Working with family: asset or risk?
Working with family offers advantages: reliability and loyalty of employees, team spirit, solidarity... Some companies establish a code of ethics to avoid mixing family relationships with professional ones.
Working with family or in a family business is not uncommon. "Family businesses have always held an important place in the global economy, and not just in Morocco. In our country, although we don't have statistics, family businesses represent a large part of the SME fabric," explains Ahmed Al Motamassik, business sociologist. But it's not only in small businesses, grocery stores or traditional commerce that people work with family. The economic fabric includes very large companies founded by "self-made men" who started investing in business well before the end of the Protectorate or thanks to Moroccanization. Chaâbi, Bensalah, Amhal, Agouzal, Akhannouch, Kettani, El Eulj, Boutgueray... All these family names are closely linked to the Moroccan economy because they are at the origin of the creation of large industrial, commercial or financial groups. Many of them gradually involved their offspring (sons and daughters) as well as brothers and cousins in their venture. Even if, in some cases, family members do not work in the same entity or entities, very often they are found within the Board of Directors. In all cases, the sustainability of the business is linked to the nature of the relationships between the different members. This is why there are apprehensions when it comes to starting a business with relatives, if there is no obligation.
This happened naturally, explains Hamza Bentaïb, a horticultural engineer by training, who after a few years of experience in different companies, ended up creating a travel agency in partnership with his wife and brother. For him, embarking on this adventure with his family was not without its concerns. "At the beginning we were worried. Everyone says you shouldn't work with your spouse or brother. But we thought there was no reason why things should go wrong at the office... In fact, it's going very well. We work together, we're complementary. Everyone takes care of their assigned tasks. It's true that for now we can't disconnect yet. Both in the evening and on weekends, we talk about work, even if we try to reserve time for the children," he testifies. "Successful family businesses are those whose members are complementary," confirms Zakaria Fahim, chartered accountant and CEO of BDO Asmoun.
The strength of working with family is first of all to benefit from the skills of one's own. Brothers and sisters or spouses who work together know perfectly their qualities, their defects and their values. Often, in a family business, the distribution of tasks is done intuitively, it is put in place empirically. "When we look in the same direction together, the motivation is greater, we both build in the same direction... We must let nature take its course, but it's also that there is a predisposition in character. However, a certain dose of complicity is necessary," explains a business leader who works with his wife.
As long as relations are good, mistakes are quickly forgotten. However, there are "dangers that should not be underestimated at the risk of weakening the smooth running of the company, including private disputes and succession struggles that can negatively interfere with the company's operations. Conversely, professional disagreements can threaten family harmony," explains Mr. Al Motamassik.
Several studies on the management of family businesses show that internal conflicts often lead to the disappearance of such businesses. It is obvious that they can also change hands for the same reasons as any other company, namely the opportunity to be bought out at an attractive price. But family businesses face problems of their own, including escalating rivalries, succession problems, the reluctance of the generation in charge to pass on the baton, the inability to recruit competent managers outside the family circle, and the inability to finance growth without diluting family capital.
For reasons of ego, a board of directors can also stumble on strategic decisions, resulting in market losses or an organization stuck in a changing environment.
Many businesses have disappeared for one of these reasons. For example, the younger generation knows little or nothing about the former group founded by the late Haj Omar Nass Blassa (Haj Tissir), which did not survive his death. Almost nothing remains of the Aït Mzal (transport) and Bouftass groups. In these various cases, there was a problem of succession or disagreement among the heirs. On the other hand, the Agouzal group is struggling, due to a transmission that did not take place in a timely manner (the founder is still at the helm).
To protect themselves from these dangers, some companies go so far as to establish a code of ethics to ensure good management of family relationships. Prepared integration of the youngest and strict equity among family members are prominent. This requires a certain distance because the goal of a company, whether family-owned or with diversified shareholders, is the same: to prosper and enrich its owners first and foremost. Adopting positions that go against these objectives is nothing more than sawing off the branch you are sitting on.
Family relationships are certainly sacred, but to avoid the worst it is imperative to distinguish between private and professional life and to adopt a rational management approach. "When the family sphere takes over the professional sphere, the damage can be significant. Very often, a successor may be imbued with the best business management practices, but unfortunately finds himself hampered by family and socio-cultural contingencies," stresses Ahmed Al Motamassik. In such a case, the outcome is known.
Published on February 2, 2011
Posted online on February 3, 2011
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