The exploratory investigation on which this article builds seeks to link the field of family business with the field of human resource management. The research asks the question, Are family firms less rational, less bureaucratic, and more political in the management of their human resources? An in‐depth analysis of the process of management succession in more than two hundred industrial firms shows the differences to be very subtle.

This article analyzes, compares, and aggregates empirical findings of three individual investigations of family firms in the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of Germany, and Spain. The purpose is not only to identify differences and commonalities between family firms and nonfamily firms in these three countries, but also to generate a European family firm research agenda for the 1990s.

This article is a personal memoir, a tale of East meeting a West‐German multinational family firm daring reunification and transition. It is a sharing of experiences from a family‐business member who was involved with the purchase of East German enterprises.

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This paper describes an exploratory approach to action research which is both critical and emancipatory. The approach, which was used to examine the phenomenon of organisational cynicism, was based on a collaborative, democratic group process with an implicit micropolitical agenda. A 'weekly triple rotating fax' method is explained and discussed as a potential format for action research. The method described has the potential to bridge the gap between the researcher and the object being researched to a considerable extent. It connects the research process to past, present and future professional practice.