Relieving owner-managers of operational duties : aligning leadership priorities through delegation and empowering of non-family employees within the family business

This research involves the real-live investigation of a family business and its managing-owners' reluctances to detach from day-to-day operational work. This subjects the family business to the on-going risk of operational dependency on family-managers and the loss of strategic direction due to inadequate managerial attention by the owner-managers. As the aim of the study is to address this specific workplace problem, action research (AR) was elected as the primary mode of inquiry in gathering data from the participants engaged in reflective learning, social development, and workplace intervention. This is in line with the ontological and epistemological direction of the study, given that the research is context-bound and problem-focused. In other words, AR aligns with the principles of relativism and social constructivism as the pursuit of reality is shaped by meaning and only accessible through the co-creation of its participants. From the preliminary findings gathered from the researched site, it is suggested that familyownership is the main source of influence impacting management's approach to the business. In fact, this had led to multiple role conflicts and dysfunctional confusion amongst the managingowners that limited them from carrying out their leadership duties. The inclination to pursue nonfinancial goals such as retaining familial control, advocating family succession, and preserving emotional attachment to the firm has directly influenced management to maintain operational focus on day-to-day business activities. Hence, owner-managers are reluctant to delegate operational responsibilities and authority to non-family employees due to the perceived risk and uncertainty towards external agents. The legitimate desire to improve this workplace situation was led by a group of managerial participants and an insider-researcher within the organisation with an aim to undertake the change process of AR. Confronted with the economic implications of pre-existing practices, AR participants were compelled to reveal their genuine fears of principal-agent threats, sense of family commitment to the business and reasonable concerns of declining organisational performance incurred by the prospective idea of delegating operational work to non-family employees. Nevertheless, the methodical process of action research empowered the AR group to evolve beyond prevailing ideologies, co-construct new perspectives and identify opportunities for actionable intervention within the planning action stage. The implementation of planned actions resulted in a new delegation process that detached familymanagers from administering day-to-day account payables within the finance department. In fact, this led to the reduction in operational work previously administered by the owner-manager by relieving approximately 27% of her managerial capacity to attend to other areas of the business. This change in management practice has also improved the workplace situation in other aspects including job alignment, the trust between family and non-family employees, and managerial capacity for change while protecting the interests of family-ownership. Despite the successful implementation, this research was still limited in gathering data from non-family employees during the AR process due to the legitimate sensitivity within the family business. Nevertheless, the study concluded with the possibility for subsequent AR cycles that could further relieve managing-owners of their day-to-day duties in other operational scopes and respective functions.