RESOURCES FOR Maintaining Family Bonds
Communication
Communication is essential for family members to exchange ideas and feelings. This page houses resources for evaluating and maintaining effective family business communication.
Renee Wiatt & Maria I. Marshall
Keywords: assessment, functionality, relationship, family business, satisfaction
In a family business, the family and the business are constantly competing for limited amounts of time, attention, and resources. The FB-BRAG allows users to measure family business functioning from a variety of viewpoints, in a way that holistically incorporates family and business functionality into one assessment. The four questions included in the assessment are modeled after Smilkstein’s (1978) family APGAR and work APGAR assessments. APGAR assessments measure adaptability, partnership, growth, affection, and resolve (Smilkstein, 1978), while the FB-BRAG measures family business balance, resolve, adaptability, and growth.
Aadron Rausch
Keywords: communication, interpersonal skills, rapport, active listening
Many factors, such as individual differences and communication skills and styles, play a part in how well people in the family communicate. Communication is essential but not always easy. This article introduces the important elements of effective communication, which involves interpersonal skills, rapport, and active listening.
Aadron Rausch
Keywords: decision making, goal setting, collaborative, participatory, management
What is important if you want to achieve effective goal setting and decision making? The answer might lay in a collaborative and participatory management style that involves everyone in the family business. The next question would be "how?". This article elaborates four steps of how to get started on involving everyone in the decision-making process.
Aadron Rausch
Keywords: balance, boundary, strategies, connections
Establishing the right boundary between the family and the business could be a challenge for family members. This article tries to tackle the challenge by offering strategies for maintaining balance between work and family. A self-assessment sheet is also included to test how you rate on balancing work and family.
G. Smilkstein
Keywords: satisfaction, APGAR, family, relationship, functionality
This assessment helps families evaluate their satisfaction level and score the functionality pertaining to the relationships within a family.
G. Smilkstein
Keywords: work, satisfaction, business, APGAR, relationships
This assessment helps to evaluate satisfaction levels and score the functionality pertaining to the relationships within a working environment or business.
Human Resources
Content under this page will guide family businesses through the workings of human resources, from salaries and job descriptions to benefits for employees.
Craig Dobbins and Cole Ehmke
Keywords: human resource, planning, job descriptions
Job descriptions are also useful beyond the hiring process. A well-developed job description identifies the position’s essential tasks. Combining these tasks with performance standards can provide criteria useful in reviewing an employee’s performance. You can also use job descriptions to develop and improve employee training programs.
Maria I. Marshall and Corinne Alexander
Keywords: human resource, risk, contingency plan
Human resource risk is critical to business development, yet it is often overlooked by the managers. This article provides information on how to tackle human resource risk by developing a contingency plan for the business. Each specific section in the plan is further explained in this article to further help you with the development of it.
Michael Langemeier
Keywords: sweat equity, income distribution, on-farm heir, off-farm heir
The term “sweat equity” is used frequently in discussions of the contributions of an on-farm heir to the value of the family owned business. Sweat equity arises in part when an on-farm heir is paid less than their true opportunity cost to work for the business. The term also arises in situations where the business has grown substantially in value due to the managerial ability and efforts of the on-farm heir. This article describes why sweat equity is commonly used on farms that include multiple generations, and discusses how to measure sweat equity.