Family Business Academy

Family business course

Conflict and Fairness

Handling disagreement, and being fair, in a business family.

  • 6 units, at your own pace
  • Online: lessons, case films and assessments
  • Certificate anyone can check
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What you will learn

  • Tell useful disagreement from harmful conflict, and see how a conflict grows
  • Know how you tend to respond, and choose the response that fits
  • Settle and prevent conflict, through structure and through the people involved
  • Judge what is fair, and manage the different treatment of relatives

What the course covers

Short lessons, each with a few questions, and a checkpoint at the end of each unit.

  1. Unit 1

    Why business families argue

    • Lesson

      When Three Worlds Meet

      See why the same relatives meeting as family, owners and colleagues makes disagreement normal

    • Lesson

      Where a Conflict Sits

      Tell a conflict inside one person from one between two people or between groups

    • Lesson

      Reading the Warning Signs

      Spot the early signs of conflict in people and in groups, and look past them to the cause

    • Checkpoint

      Checkpoint: Why Business Families Argue

      Apply the three worlds, the four conflicts from overlapping roles and the warning signs

  2. Unit 2

    How a disagreement grows

    • Lesson

      From Trigger to Outcome

      Follow a family disagreement through five stages, and see what in the context makes it worse

    • Lesson

      Guessing Wrong

      See how wrong guesses and unspoken role expectations turn small frictions into real conflicts

    • Lesson

      The Escalation Ladder

      Recognize the four steps a family conflict climbs, from a minor disagreement to war

    • Lesson

      Arguments That Help, Arguments That Harm

      Tell cognitive conflicts about the work from affective conflicts about the person, and why it matters

    • Checkpoint

      Checkpoint: How a Disagreement Grows

      Apply the five stages, the escalation ladder and the types of conflict

  3. Unit 3

    How you respond

    • Lesson

      Five Ways to Respond

      Learn the five ways people handle conflict, from competing to avoiding

    • Assessment

      Conflict Response Profile

      How do you tend to respond to conflict?

    • Lesson

      Home, Boardroom, Office

      See why the same person responds differently as a relative, an owner and a manager

    • Lesson

      Choosing the Response That Fits

      Match the response to the issue, the relationship and the time you have

    • Checkpoint

      Checkpoint: How You Respond

      Apply the five responses diagram and your Conflict Response Profile

  4. Unit 4

    Settling and preventing conflict

    • Lesson

      Fixing the Structure

      Settle conflict by changing roles, rules and resources, and see where that stops working

    • Lesson

      Working With the People

      Use discussion, coaching, mediation and team development to resolve conflict for good

    • Lesson

      When a Family Needs More Debate

      See why too little conflict is also a problem, and how to bring healthy debate back

    • Checkpoint

      Checkpoint: Settling and Preventing Conflict

      Apply the traditional and complementary techniques and the ways to stimulate debate

  5. Unit 5

    Fair is not equal

    • Lesson

      Three Ways to Share

      Tell equity, equality and need apart: three ideas of a fair share

    • Lesson

      A Fair Process

      See why how a decision is made matters as much as what it gives each person

    • Lesson

      Respect and Explanation

      Learn interpersonal and informational justice: how a decision is delivered

    • Lesson

      Fair at Home, Fair at Work

      See the three levels where fairness is judged, and how to manage the gap

    • Reflection

      Justice & Fairness

      How do you judge a family decision?

    • Checkpoint

      Checkpoint: Fair Is Not Equal

      Apply the four kinds of justice and the three levels of fairness

  6. Unit 6

    Family at work

    • Lesson

      Hiring Relatives

      See when nepotism helps a family firm and when it hurts it

    • Lesson

      Family and Non-Family Staff

      Read how a family treats relatives and staff, and why

    • Lesson

      When One Relative Damages the Firm

      Recognize the Fredo effect: a relative whose behavior harms the family and the business

    • Lesson

      A Family Employment Policy

      Write the rules for how relatives join, grow and are paid in the family business

    • Checkpoint

      Checkpoint: Family at Work

      Apply the faultlines, the family types, the two kinds of nepotism and the employment policy

Final test and certificate

Questions across the whole course. Pass it and you receive a certificate with your name and a number anybody can check, ready to add to LinkedIn.

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