Family businesses are constituted fundamentally for three common reasons:
1) The opportunity to associate with people who provide trust.
2) Start a venture with those who got excited about the idea from conversations in the family environment.
3) The possibility of giving work to relatives who are unemployed or dissatisfied with their employment.
Although there are other reasons why a company is made up of family members, these are usually the most common.
At the beginning of the activities everything is fine, whatever the result of the business, but as the company grows and the management becomes more complex, disagreements and confrontations appear.
Some problems are resolved in the company environment and others are transferred to the family environment and relationships begin to be complicated.
However, if business is going well and the company has a positive return, the blood does not reach the river, but if the numbers do not close and funds start to run out, things get complicated.
It is also complicated when the spouses are dissatisfied with the role of their partners in the organization.
When the company enters the negative profitability zone, or the participation of the family members is not considered equitable, the cross accusations start to rain and reason gives way to emotions and strong personalities put pressure on the most composing members.
Some express what they feel and what they think and others do not express themselves and are burdened over time, until problems invade the company and family and the outcomes are not always happy.
What happens in practice?
The family members of the company are in different sectors, sales, administration, production, etc. as employees or managers of the sector.
When the numbers do not close, those who work in sales argue that the prices they make from "above" are not competitive and that the products do not have the promised quality, and that nothing is delivered on time.
Those who work in production say that sales always sell the most difficult, what we cannot deliver, they ask for deliveries in times impossible to carry out, etc., etc.
Administrators or those who occupy managerial positions, feel that none of the family members who occupy positions is qualified to manage, “the others” never they are administrative or managers.
In this situation, a meeting is proposed to solve the problems and, what arises is that people, non-family employees, do not get involved, are not motivated, each one does their own thing and does not care about the company.
"The fault of what happens in the company is theirs, the staff that is not involved, not us."
I am absolutely convinced of this statement because I heard it dozens of times, always in the same way and with the same tones and groans.
At this point the company is in serious risk, because if market demand exceeds supply and work continues, it will continue to earn enough to cover all expenses, wages and withdrawals, although it will not be known how much loses from winning by mismanagement.
But if the market is competitive and you have to be very efficient to continue working with positive profitability, the company is in trouble and the percentage of risk that it will close is high.
Is there a way out of this maze? Yes, there is a way out.
If any of the family members of the company aspires to place it as a market leader and another, only intends to achieve an income that guarantees an acceptable quality of life, it is difficult to agree on the measures to be taken and above all, what to do with the profits from operations, since the first would like to use it to incorporate state-of-the-art technology and the second would want to withdraw it for personal use.
As soon as possible it is necessary to implement Management Technology, which the company organizes in its entirety, from clearly defining where you want to go with the company in the coming years, what type of product or service we are going to offer and what market we want to serve, which It will be the structure that we must achieve, what will be the chronological management network and what role will each employee, family or not, have in this organization.
Once this scaffolding is defined, it is necessary to define the jobs in relation to their mission (for which the position is created) and their functions (which are the topics that each one must deal with) to be able to describe the tasks that each one is in charge of.
These definitions are justified so that each stage of management has a person in charge, only one, and that they know who to turn to when that stage is not met, and furthermore, that all stages have a person in charge and not be carried out due to the voluntary nature of one that takes over without corresponding.
People need to know what is expected of them and who to turn to to resolve each issue clearly and in writing.
When this situation is clarified, it is only there that the systematic training and formation process begins so that all the members of the company act with technical tools, to fulfill their functions efficiently.
Subsequently, the performance evaluation of all the members of the organization must be monitored so that they occupy the positions for which they have the best disposition and capacity, preventing them from filling positions because they are more pleasant or more comfortable.
This work is complemented by teamwork modules, problem analysis and decision making, management quality circles, etc.
A change of this nature can be made from the inside, if any of the holders has the training and personality to lead the process of change, otherwise it is advisable to resort to external advisers experienced in the treatment of these cases that contribute, from the outside, with a decontaminated view of day to day and family problems.
It is essential to separate the company from the family and, within the company, identify those who are employees, managers and directors.
The final suggestion is: Don't live with the problems and blame the others; take charge and work it out.
