Cale, P. M., & Tate, D. C. (2011). Sink or swim: How lessons from the Titanic can save your
family business. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO.
Cale and Tate (2011) acknowledge the fact that entitlement can really manifest itself in a family’s business culture. The entitlement mentioned by the authors varies from one individual to another. For instance, senior leaders in a family business may feel that they are entitled to retaining control and authority of business operations. This form of entitlement comes at the expense of younger generation because they will not be prepared to lead the family business in future. It is such entitlement that has driven many people in America to reconsider their place in family businesses. Entitlement, according to the authors, is an attitude or behavior exhibited by an individual such as deserving of privilege and respect. In most cases, the items requested for by such individuals are beyond their skills, experience and knowledge. As such, entitled family business members fail to listen to reason raised by those skilled and experienced to handle organizational problems. Entitlement in family business is mostly found in wealthy families and this leads to children holding on to unrealistic expectations.
Lively, D. (2011, Dec 7). How to escape from the entitlement trap. Furniture World Magazine .
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Retrieved from https://www.furninfo.com/furniture-world-archives/12911
Entitlement traps found in family businesses are the reason why many individuals decide to run from engaging in the daily operations of the family business (Lively, 2011). Evidence from the article talks of several entitlement traps that include a mistaken belief by children that authority is a privilege of ownership. To the children, they do not get what it means to work hard, plan and provide their wisdom when it comes to decision making processes. This is because they were reared in the store. The other entitlement trap is based on fairness where they demand for equality, which is underserved because their efforts do not reward any form of equal compensation. Due to inheriting the company, they may feel trapped and locked into ownership, which leads to underlying bitterness due to the lack of freedom accorded to them as adults. They feel that they have not been given the chance to choose their educational paths, careers, and where they would want to live. The dissatisfaction of a family member is something that can render one to quit operating in family businesses. Lastly, they become really entitled to the business ownership aspect and fail to consider the economic environment of their businesses.
Sher, R. (2018, June 29). 5 strategies to prevent family business heartbreaks. Forbes . Retrieved
from https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertsher/2018/06/29/5-strategies-to-prevent-family-
business-heartbreaks/#54f2f40c4089
Family businesses come into play with the sole intention of making money and strengthen family bonds. The aspect of creating strong family bonds has created problems for the management personnel because they are forced to look into conflicts created by such relations (Sher, 2018). The conflicts include the needs and wants for the business, whole family and individual family members to thrive. In this article, strategies have been mentioned to identify with the winning group and include honoring choice and independence, pay needs to be performance-based, and having a culture that is enviable. It also looks at stressing on the value attributed to emotional intelligence and family goals created need to be clear. The article uses a story to show how family businesses can be successful irrespective of looming challenges of entitlement and jealousy.
Williams, D. K. (2017, Aug 13). How to overcome the ‘entitlement trap’ in business. Forbes .
Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkwilliams/2017/08/13/how-to-
overcome-the-entitlement-trap-in-business/#6903ee691cd4
According to William (2017), entitlement in work is a problem facing many organizations in America. In most of the family businesses, individuals are trying to escape from the culture of entitlement, but the solution lies in instilling in people a culture of giving and recognition. Evidence from the article shows that many people working in businesses run by family members need to be self-starters. Moreover, accountability is another issue that needs to be considered by family businesses because the smooth running of company operations starts with ever member of the organization; including owners. Healthy competition will need to be encouraged among family members for the business to succeed.
Poutziouris, P. Z., Smyrnios, K. X., & Klein, S. B. (Eds). (2008). Handbook of research on
family business . Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.
Handbook of research on family business book by Poutziouris, Smyrnios and Klein (2008), chapter 12 of the book talks about working with family in business. The mention of entitlement is found in family systems and family business dynamics where human relations are seen to play a role in the enhancement of intergenerational concepts such as entitlement, fairness, family obligations, and loyalty. It also mentions multigenerational issues pertaining to power and control that can be applied in family businesses to integrate success in their business operations. The book also looks at family businesses and how they have managed to conquer the challenges facing such organizations. Evidence from the book show how different cultures of family businesses have navigated through the pools of business successfully.
References
Cale, P. M., & Tate, D. C. (2011). Sink or swim: How lessons from the Titanic can save your family business. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO.
Lively, D. (2011, Dec 7). How to escape from the entitlement trap. Furniture World Magazine . Retrieved from https://www.furninfo.com/furniture-world-archives/12911
Poutziouris, P. Z., Smyrnios, K. X., & Klein, S. B. (Eds). (2008). Handbook of research on family business . Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.
Sher, R. (2018, June 29). 5 strategies to prevent family business heartbreaks. Forbes . Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertsher/2018/06/29/5-strategies-to-prevent-family-business-heartbreaks/#54f2f40c4089
Williams, D. K. (2017, Aug 13). How to overcome the ‘entitlement trap’ in business. Forbes . Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkwilliams/2017/08/13/how-to-overcome-the-entitlement-trap-in-business/#6903ee691cd4
