"Don't lock me out": life-story interviews of family business owners facing succession

This qualitative study used a grounded theory methodology to analyze life-story interviews obtained from 10 family business owners regarding their experiences in their businesses with the goal of understanding the complexities of family business succession. The grounded theory that emerged from this study is best understood as a potential web of constraints that can bear on the succession process. Coding of these interviews revealed four key influences, which seem to have the potential to facilitate or constrain the family business owner's approach to succession. Influence 1, "The business within," captures intrapsychic dynamics of differentiation and control. Influence 2, "The marriage," addresses how traditional gender roles shape succession. Influence 3, "The adult children," examines the role of having a natural (accidental, organic, passively groomed) successor. Influence 4, "The vision of retirement," captures the impact of owners' notions of life post-succession. Family therapists frequently encounter family systems in which the family business is facing succession. Even if succession is not the presenting problem, and even if the business owner is in the indirect (rather than direct) system, this research reminds clinicians of the importance of the family's story about the family business. Therefore, clinical implications and recommendations are included.     

Surviving the Transformation: Social Quality in Central Asia and the Caucuses

This paper develops a sociologically informed understanding of what influences the lives and life-choices of people living in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan (Central Asian Republics) and Armenia and Georgia (the Caucasus), four of the successor states of the Soviet Union that suffered significant social and economic changes following the collapse of the Union in 1991. The focus is on the nature of these societies for their citizens; ultimately we are concerned to understand what makes a society liveable for all, what type of society enables people to be generally satisfied with their lives. To do this we use the Social Quality model to derive indicators from which to model what makes for a liveable or at least tolerable society. The model is validated by reference to subjective satisfaction—how people feel about life in general—as the ultimate outcome indicator of individual well-being. The data we use were collected as part of a broader study of living conditions, lifestyles and health in eight of the successor states of the Soviet Union, the Confederation of Independent States (CIS).     

Coping with the Stresses of Travel as an Opportunity for Improving the Quality of Work and Family Life

The relationship between the working lives and family lives of people in our society is little explored. This article describes a case in which heavy business travel created problems both for the industrial organization and the families of the employees involved. To cope with the problem, the family perspective was brought into the organization by means of a husband-wife workshop. The workshop used structure to fit privacy norms of industry, to help couples explore aspects of their relationships that determined their individual and joint response to organizational and family stress, and to develop collaborative resources for coping with those stresses. The benefits to the families and the organization went beyond coping with the stresses of business travel and extended to other important aspects of both business and family life.     

Bridging the Gap Between Innovation and ELSA: The TA Program in the Dutch Nano-R&D Program NanoNed

The Technology Assessment (TA) Program established in 2003 as part of the Dutch R&D consortium NanoNed is interesting for what it did, but also as an indication that there are changes in how new science and technology are pursued: the nanotechnologists felt it necessary to spend part of their funding on social aspects of nanotechnology. We retrace the history of the TA program, and present the innovative work that was done on Constructive TA of emerging nanotechnology developments and on aspects of embedding of nanotechnology in society. One achievement is the provision of tools and approaches to help make the co-evolution of technology and society more reflexive. We briefly look forward by outlining its successor program, TA NanoNextNL, in place since 2011.     

Family therapists and family business: A view of the future

The family business is a unique entity that has recently come to the attention of business consultants and family therapists. The unique processes of family business are amendable to the applications of family systems theory, organizational development theory, and various theories that focus on individual growth and development. In this paper we review some of the basic concepts relative to understanding family businesses and briefly outline our approach to consultation with family businesses.     

Business Research, Self-fulfilling Prophecy, and the Inherent Responsibility of Scholars

Business research and teaching institutions play an important role in shaping the way businesses perceive their relations to the broader society and its moral expectations. Hence, as ethical scandals recently arose in the business world, questions related to the civic responsibilities of business scholars and to the role business schools play in society have gained wider interest. In this article, I argue that these ethical shortcomings are at least partly resulting from the mainstream business model with its taken-for granted basic assumptions such as specialization or the value-neutrality of business research. Redefining the roles and civic responsibilities of business scholars for business practice implies therefore a thorough analysis of these assumptions if not their redefinition. The taken-for-grantedness of the mainstream business model is questioned by the transformation of the societal context in which business activities are embedded. Its value-neutrality in turn is challenged by self-fulfilling prophecy effects, which highlight the normative influence of business schools. In order to critically discuss some basic assumptions of mainstream business theory, I propose to draw parallels with the corporate citizenship concept and the stakeholder theory. Their integrated approach of the relation between business practice and the broader society provides interesting insights for the social reembedding of business research and teaching.     

Wife abuse and battering in the sociocultural context of Arab society

Despite increasing public, professional, and scientific interest in the problem of wife abuse and battering, little has been written about the importance of sociocultural sensitivity in intervention with abused and battered women in Arab society. In this article, I describe central family values in that society and discuss their relevance to wife abuse and battering. Specifically, the discussion focuses on values such as mutual family support and interdependence, family reputation, women's inferiority and male supremacy, and family cohesion and the relevance of those values to wife abuse and battering. In addition, I present Arab women's perspectives on this problem, as revealed in their responses to open-ended questions that were part of larger studies conducted by me. In this regard, five dimensions of their perspectives are considered: (1) Women's definitions of violence against women; (2) their awareness of the problem; (3) their justification or condemnation of violence against women; (4) their awareness of the risk encountered by battered women; and (5) their approach toward coping with the problem. The results are discussed from the perspective of the sociocultural context of Arab society. The article concludes with recommendations for socioculturally sensitive intervention with battered women in this society.     

Succession and survival in psychotherapy organizations

Abstract: This paper examines the world of psychotherapy by applying a systemic and psychodynamic understanding of the family business as a way of understanding the dilemmas and challenges of leadership succession. Oedipal factors are explored as an important theme within the succession process. This exploration is set within the context of what function psychotherapy has performed in society over the last thirty years. The hypothesis is that the first generation of leaders aimed to provide containment for the individual citizen at a time of failed dependency in society. The suggestion is that this gave way to the primary task for the second generation, which has been to focus on the therapist in training. The challenge for the third generation is to develop a meaningful role for psychotherapy today and to ensure survival at a time when other shorter therapies such as CBT are gaining ascendancy over longer term psychoanalytic psychotherapy.     

To infinity and beyond: Children generalize the successor function to all possible numbers years after learning to count

Recent accounts of number word learning posit that when children learn to accurately count sets (i.e., become “cardinal principle” or “CP” knowers), they have a conceptual insight about how the count list implements the successor function – i.e., that every natural number n has a successor defined as n + 1 (Carey, 2004, 2009; Sarnecka & Carey, 2008). However, recent studies suggest that knowledge of the successor function emerges sometime after children learn to accurately count, though it remains unknown when this occurs, and what causes this developmental transition. We tested knowledge of the successor function in 100 children aged 4 through 7 and asked how age and counting ability are related to: (1) children’s ability to infer the successors of all numbers in their count list and (2) knowledge that all numbers have a successor. We found that children do not acquire these two facets of the successor function until they are about 5½ or 6 years of age – roughly 2 years after they learn to accurately count sets and become CP-knowers. These findings show that acquisition of the successor function is highly protracted, providing the strongest evidence yet that it cannot drive the cardinal principle induction. We suggest that counting experience, as well as knowledge of recursive counting structures, may instead drive the learning of the successor function.     

Equity,Equality, and Need in the Adult Family

Abstract

British students were given scenarios about family and business situations and were asked to rate various cost allocation decisions in terms of fairness and justice, and conflict. In terms of fairness/justice, there was no difference between the need and equity allocations in the family situation, though equity was preferred in the business situation. The equality division was the least preferred in all situations, and equity was judged to be the division the least likely to evoke conflict in all situations.     

Putting the mind back into the body a successor scientific medical model

This paper examines today's received scientific medical model with respect to its ability to satisfy two conditions: (1) its explanatory adequacy relative to the full range of findings in the medical literature, including those indicating a correlation between psychosocial variables and disease susceptibility; and (2) the fit between its physicalist patient and disease concepts and what today's basic sciences, so-called sciences of complexity, tell us about the way matter, notably complex systems (e.g. patients), behave and the nature of scientific explanation. I conclude that the received (biomedical) model falls short on both counts and to satisfy these conditions is to articulate a formal successor model. This successor must be guided by premises consistent with the findings and methods of today's basic sciences on which an applied science like medicine depends for its validity. Additionally, the successor model must be able to explain (and predict) the full range of clinical findings, both those that its predecessors explains and at least some of those that it does not. The aim of the paper is to identify such a model.     

Utilizing structural family therapy and systems theory in the business world

The structure of businesses and the structure of families are very similar, considering the fact that so many businesses are owned or operated by families. Structural family therapists who are knowledgeable in systems theory and have an adequate understanding of the underlying concepts of structural family theory (including hierarchy, boundaries, and coalitions) can translate their knowledge to the structure of businesses and organizations. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the similarities between the structures of families and businesses. In doing so, an application of structural family theory to the business world (employee assistance programs, business consultation, and family businesses) will be demonstrated.     

The Emergence of Eric: Co-Therapy in the Treatment of a Family with a Disabled Child

This paper focuses on the problem of socialization of the disabled child within his family. For the family of the disabled child, socialization is doubly challenging; the family must teach its child not only how to be human, but also how to be disabled in the larger society. Often families of disabled children need help in enhancing their child's participation in family life — a critical aspect of socialization. One highly effective means of assisting families in this task is the use of family therapy. A case study is included to illustrate the use of family interviewing with a congenitally blind adolescent boy. Two therapists — a rehabilitation counselor (who is blind) from a state agency serving blind children^a and a social worker from a child guidance agency^b— collaborated in working with the family, which included a mother, father, their congenitally blind thirteen-year-old boy, and his two sighted brothers. The authors conclude that the child's family is the most potentially powerful resource for the successful habilitation of the disabled child into larger society and postulate family treatment as an effective means of attaining this end.     

Violence in the family—an attempt to apply contemporary theories of non-violent action and conflict resolution skills

Recognizing the influence of ideologies on approaches to violence in the family, the author has sought to set this violence in the context of a violent society. In this same society, however, there has also evolved in recent years a range of concepts related to non-violent problem-solving. Examining some of these concepts the author considers the possibility of applying them to family situations as a way of developing skills useful to the family but also relevant in other life conflicts.     

The Life Satisfaction of Owner-Manager Entrepreneurs When the Business of Business is not only Business

This paper studies the anatomy of entrepreneurs’ satisfaction with life, which refers to the relationship between life satisfaction, satisfaction in domains of life, and affective, evaluative, and sensory experiences of being well. The paper focuses on owner-manager entrepreneurs, who, as managers, lead their firms and take major business decisions and, as owners, have room to deviate from the exclusive procurement of profits to pursue their happiness. The study of entrepreneurs’ anatomy of life satisfaction provides insight on how they lead their firms and how they weight the well-being repercussions of their business decisions. The paper distinguishes between family-firm and nonfamily-firm entrepreneurs, and it shows that there is heterogeneity in entrepreneurs’ anatomy of life satisfaction; with the life satisfaction of family-firm entrepreneurs being strongly driven by family satisfaction and by negative affect, while the life satisfaction of nonfamily-firm entrepreneurs is strongly driven by work satisfaction. These differences in the anatomy of entrepreneurs’ life satisfaction do correspond with observed differences in the organization and behavior of family and nonfamily firms, which suggests that the anatomy of life satisfaction provides insight on how entrepreneurs weight their business decisions and lead their firms. The empirical exercise is based on an original survey applied to Spanish entrepreneurs in 2019.

     

城市“空巢”家庭特征分析

在城市化进程中,家庭空巢化正在成为一个热点问题。空巢老人是老年人中有独特需要的群体,极易产生各种身心问题。影响家庭空巢的因素很多,既有来自人口内部结构的因素．也有来自观念、社会、经济等方面的原因,并且在人口、经济、生理、休闲方式上有着独特的特征。空巢家庭的养老问题有着很大风险,因此养老模式的探讨也是一个值得关注的问题。     

传统家训消费伦理观的现代审思

传统家训消费伦理是中国古代社会特定的政治经济文化因素综合作用的产物。在古代社会它曾对提升人们的道德水平、调节社会经济生活中的矛盾、稳定家庭和社会的秩序起过积极的作用。在现代社会,它对于推动中国特色市场经济的建设及和谐社会的建构,对于既有民族特色、又具时代意义的现代消费伦理观的建构,具有重要的启示意义。     

Understanding political responsibility in corporate citizenship: towards a shared responsibility for the common good

In this article, we explore the debate on corporate citizenship and the role of business in global governance. In the debate on political corporate social responsibility it is assumed that under globalization business is taking up a greater political role. Apart from economic responsibilities firms assume political responsibilities taking up traditional governmental tasks such as regulation of business and provision of public goods. We contrast this with a subsidiarity-based approach to governance, in which firms are seen as intermediate actors who have political co-responsibilities in society endowed upon them by (inter)national governmental institutions. We argue that both approaches face conceptual and empirical problems, and do not make clear the content and scope of political corporate responsibility. Based on Iris Marion Young’s account of political responsibility we argue that corporate actors and governmental actors have a shared responsibility to tackle societal problems. Taking political corporate responsibility not only entails engaging in private action or engaging in public–private partnerships, but it also includes aiding governmental actors to remedy injustice or even create public institutions where they do not yet exist. By adding this perspective we contribute to the debate on responsibility in corporate citizenship and clarify the political role business can play in global governance.     

2~5岁学前儿童数概念的发展水平及过程——理解者水平理论的视角

本研究从儿童数概念发展的理解者水平模型的理论视角,对100名2～5岁学前儿童的数概念发展水平进行划分,并比较不同水平儿童对后继函数的理解和掌握,探讨儿童数概念的发展过程。结果表明：儿童在4岁时基本达到了数概念发展的最高水平即基数原则水平,已经理解了后继函数,能够把它的方向性和单位性的变化,对应到数数序列的数词上。而2～3岁的儿童还处于子集水平,该水平的儿童和基数原则水平的儿童相比,对后继函数的理解存在差异。但后继函数的发展不是全或者无的,儿童积累的数词越多,后继函数发展得越好。     

MODERNIZATION OF THE CHINESE FAMILY BUSINESS

In order to study the modernization of the Chinese family business, the contrast between formal rationality and substantive rationality was used to characterize significant features of Western culture and Chinese culture respectively. A theoretical model of Chinese social behaviors as influenced by the substantive ethics of Confucianism was adopted to describe the organizational behaviors which were frequently observed in Chinese family business. Several empirical studies comparing organizational climates as perceived by employees working in foreign-invested business, private business with formal regulations, and family business were cited to support the argument that such Confucian virtues as loyalty to the organization, working hard, maintaining interpersonal harmony, etc., are most likely to be manifested in organizations where formal regulations of Western-style management were enforced.