The Role of Selected Team Design Elements in Successful Sibling Teams

Abstract

For any team to function effectively, several basic elements need to be present. The extent to which these elements are present increases the chances of a successful team outcome. Since a family business can be viewed as a type of team, the literature on how to design effective teams is also relevant to business families. The primary objectives of this study are to identify the team design elements commonly referred to in the family business literature and to empirically test their influence on the effectiveness of South African sibling teams in family businesses. The empirical findings of this preliminary study show that physical resources, skills diversity, and strategic leadership are important determinants of sibling team success whereas role clarity and competence are not.

Socio‐Emotional Wealth Separation and Decision‐Making Quality in Family Firm TMTs: The Moderating Role of Psychological Safety

“…Moreover, the two conditions (based on firm and TMT size) that simultaneously had to be met are difficult to detect a priori. The snowball sampling procedure helps locate members of special hard‐to‐find populations via referral by network contacts (Biernacki and Waldorf, ; Saunders et al, ) and has already been used in family business studies that faced comparable constraints (e.g., Bettinelli, ; Björnberg and Nicholson, ; Farrington et al, ; Fiegener et al, ; Van der Merwe, ; Venter et al, ). The risk of sampling bias through this specific method (Lee, ), is less of a problem in this study because the descriptive statistics (more details in Table on p. 15) provide evidence of sufficient variation within the sample in terms of firms and respondents (e.g., firm size, firm age, top management composition).…”

The Family's Financial Support as a “Poisoned Gift”: A Family Embeddedness Perspective on Entrepreneurial Intentions

“…The potential entrepreneur and the family member that is planned to be included should have greater tacit understandings and consensus regarding the firm's strategy (cf. Ensley and Pearson ), and thus potential entrepreneurs can expect that they will be more effective and successful (Farrington, Venter, and Boshoff ). Also, we argue that they should anticipate less emotional conflict and more efficient decision‐making, which are two characteristics of entrepreneurial family teams (Eisenhardt and Schoonhoven ; Ucbasaran et al ).…”

Perceptions of Knowledge Sharing Among Small Family Firm Leaders: A Structural Equation Model

“…Additionally, in order to only focus on those firms particularly reliant on knowledge-based resources (Bontis & Fitz-Enz, 2002), we apply Alvesson's (2004) typification of knowledge intensity as further inclusion criteria (respondents of the final sample can be categorised as: marketing activities (5.5%); property management (9.1%); education (12.7%); design (13.6%); events (13.6%); consultancy (13.6%); and legal/financial services (31.8%)) A form of convenience snowball sampling was used to gain research participants; we considered this strategy particularly appropriate as small family businesses can often be a 'hidden population' (Noy, 2008), in that family aspects are not normally reported in national business databases and small business owners themselves are often reported as sceptical towards the advances of academic inquiry (Curran & Blackburn, 2001). To initiate this process, we contacted family businesses on the existing databases of the Scottish Family Business Association and the various Chambers of Commerce throughout the different regions of Scotland, as well as those identified via the businesses' public documentation, Internet search and referrals from early respondents (following the sampling strategies of Maas, 2005 andWarrington, Venter &Boshoff, 2012). Where there was ambiguity as to whether the business meets the inclusion criteria of the study, we contacted the business telephonically to confirm their appropriateness and willingness to contribute.…”