Managing Ambivalent Emotions in Family Businesses: Governance Mechanisms for the Family, Business, and Ownership Systems

Abstract

Members of business families experience ambivalent emotions that stem from paradoxical tensions inherent to family business, namely the overlapping of three systems: the family, the firm, and ownership. In this essay, we shed light on how governance mechanisms can frame the different roles a family member can play in the family, business, and ownership systems, making role conflict and the subsequent emotional ambivalence a source of creativity rather than of emotional dissonance. These governance mechanisms may also contribute to reducing risks for interpersonal conflict as well as provide rules for conflict resolution. Building on the typology distinguishing among Enmeshed Family Business (EFB), Balanced Family Business (BFB), and Disengaged Family Business (DFB), we suggest governance mechanisms to support emotion management within each archetype at the individual, family and firm levels.