Keep it in the Family

Relationships in Family Business
Conflict generally arises when the roles in one system intrudes into the roles of another. For example, a conflict can arise between a parent and child or husband and wife when the roles that operate in the business system carry over to the family system.

The boss and employee roles that a husband and wife may have in their business will most likely be reversed when they go home. Usually the husband will be the boss in the business and the wife will be the boss in the home.

Communication patterns within families do not always affect the business, but when they do they can be very difficult to handle and certainly embarrassing to people in the business. Unfortunately it is very easy to talk to family members in a derogatory manner that would never be used when speaking to other employees or managers.

Using Buy/Sell Agreements in Families
A buy/sell agreement is a document that controls the disposition of an interest in a business to cater for an event in the future that may affect th...