Unraveling the Role of Shared Vision and Trust in Constructive Conflict Management of Family Firms. An Empirical Study From a Mixed Methods Approach

Abstract

Family firms are a unique setting to study constructive conflict management due to the influence of family ties of the owning family imprinting a sense of common purpose and shared destiny, and high levels of trust. We study the relationship between shared vision and trust that intervene in the adoption of constructive conflict management. To achieve our purpose, we carried out a systematic indirect observation using a mixed methods approach. We used the narratives of 17 semi-structured interviews, audio-recorded and transcribed, of family and non-family managers or directors from five Spanish family firms in the siblings' partnership stage, combined with documentary data obtained from different sources. Intra- and inter-observer reliability were confirmed. Results show a dynamic relationship between shared vision and specific components of trust (benevolence and ability) at different levels of conflict management. We also provide evidence of specific processes of concurrence-seeking and open-mindedness in family and ownership forums accounting for the relevance of family governance in these type of organizations. Family firms are a sum of several subsystems which exhibit a particular resources configuration. This study sheds light on constructive conflict management in family firms opening interesting avenues for further research and offering practical implications to managers, owners, and advisors.

Future horizons in the analysis of technical-tactical performance in women’s football: a mixed methods approach to the analysis of in-depth interviews with professional coaches and players

“…The use of indirect observation requires overcoming challenges derived from partial perceptivity, which have been attempted to be addressed in this research. We highlight the contribution that it provides in studies in which human communication is of interest as a source of information ( García-Fariña et al, 2018 , 2021 ; Del Giacco et al, 2020 ; Alvarado et al, 2021 ; Nunes et al, 2022 ).…”

“…Second, to obtain a map of interrelationships between behaviors, a polar coordinate analysis (PCA) was carried out for which the target behavior of the sequential analysis was taken as focal, and the same conditioned behaviors. This analysis has been applied in other indirect observation studies in the field of sports ( García-Fariña et al, 2018 , 2021 ; Nunes et al, 2022 ) and other areas ( Alcover et al, 2019 ; Arias-Pujol and Anguera, 2020 ; Del Giacco et al, 2020 ; Alvarado et al, 2021 ). For this analysis, which operates with the adjusted residual values obtained from the lag sequential analysis (LSA), lags −5 to +5 were taken into consideration ( Anguera et al, 2018 ).…”

“…Researchers will undoubtedly have to further develop this issue in the coming years. In this sense, the experience and knowledge of female football coaches and players can help guide research problems, and conducting interviews with the real participants and connoisseurs of the sport can be an effective tool, as demonstrated in other areas of knowledge ( García-Fariña et al, 2018 , 2021 ; Del Giacco et al, 2020 ; Alvarado et al, 2021 ; Nunes et al, 2022 ). In the coming years, clubs, public bodies, and researchers must direct their efforts toward achieving the following objectives ( Nassis et al, 2021 ): (i) to know the needs of female football coaches and players, (ii) to intensify scientific production on female football, (iii) through the integration of coaches and players in the studies carried out, and (iv) in search of an improvement in sports practice and the performance of female football teams.…”

Families and Their Firms Behaving Badly: A Review of Dysfunctional Behavior in Family Businesses

“…On the downside, imprinting as a learning process has been linked conceptually to negative behaviors and dysfunctional outcomes in family firms (Kidwell et al, 2018). While a founding family is said to imprint a common purpose (shared vision), culture, and conflict management style on their family firm (Alvarado-Alvarez et al, 2021; Eddleston, 2008), dysfunctional family dynamics may provide imprints that have dire consequences for family firms (Kidwell et al, 2018) such as unearned entitlement, personal feelings of perceived injustice, damaging altruism, and unethical behavior. More research is needed on how imprints that promote negative acts can explain dysfunction within family firms.…”

Methodological procedure based on quantitizing/liquefying: a case study to assess work climate in an emergency department

“…Indirect observation facilitates the analysis of diverse texts, as has been shown in works on self-registrations ( Squires et al, 2011 ), teacher – student conversations ( García-Fariña et al, 2018 ), therapist – teenager patient dialog ( Arias-Pujol and Anguera, 2020 ), therapist – adult patient dialog ( del Giacco et al, 2020 ), in-depth interviews with elite trainers ( Nunes et al, 2022 ), in-depth interviews with professional coaches and players ( Iván-Baragaño et al, 2023 ), panel discussions with professionals about the foreseeable consequences of COVID-19 ( Moya et al, 2020 ), and in-depth interview with family firms where there is an intrafamilial conflict ( Alvarado-Alvarez et al, 2021 ).…”