Abstract:
The practice of shared leadership in family business management teams requires further study. Shared leadership is an emergent participative theory that requires team leaders to emerge and change naturally within a team. The study aimed to understand the prevalence of shared leadership, awareness of required team leadership qualities, and specific tasks prone to shared leadership, within the family business context. A family business team input-process-output model and sustainability constructs were adopted to study shared leadership in the family business environment. The general heterogeneity and intricacies of family businesses prompted a research case study approach. Incumbent and successor generation teams were interviewed. Findings showed prevalence of shared leadership where the incumbent generation was willing to share management control. In the absence of such willingness, a delegation structure prevailed. Further findings indicated that a family council communication platform can assist with the participation of the successor generation in an environment where the incumbent generation is unwilling to relinquish business control. During the final phase of the succession process, termed relinquishing of control, shared leadership was observed to assist with building of trust and confidence in the successor generation. The observations and conclusions contributed toward family business sustainability knowledge
