Call for Cases to be published in:
Case Studies in Family Business: Overcoming Destructive Conflict, Deviance and Dysfunction in the Family Firm; Edward Elgar Publishing, edited by Roland E. Kidwell, Florida Atlantic University
By December 1 2022, please send one-page case study proposals to Roland Kidwell at kidwellr@fau.edu for feedback.
Deadline for initial submission of cases and teaching notes: 1 May 2023
This edited volume will include cases focusing on relationship conflict, deviance and dysfunctional behavior in family firms, and how the potentially harmful results of this behavior affects family members, family firms and their employees, and external stakeholders – and how it can be effectively addressed. Cases in this book should provide readers an opportunity to learn about the antecedents and outcomes of negative behaviors that apply to individuals in family firms, business families and family businesses, and to effectively address them. The goal of the book is to provide case scenarios that enable the reader (undergraduate and graduate students in family business, entrepreneurship, and strategy classes) to better understand conflict and negative behavior in family firms and come up with viable and innovative solutions to deal with key issues that can threaten family harmony, firm performance and ultimately firm and family survival.
Dysfunctional behavior, also referred to as negative deviance, consists of voluntary acts that threaten the well-being of the organization, its members and potentially the external environment. These negative behaviors include interpersonal conflict, insubordination, sabotage, theft and fraud, abuse of privileges, harassment, aggression, negative nepotism, and drug and alcohol abuse. At the firm level, dysfunctional/deviant behavior includes corruption, misconduct, illegal activities, and unethical actions that negatively impact society as well as the firm. Destructive behavior can be very costly to any organization and its stakeholders as it can result in business failure, lawsuits, productivity losses, higher expenses, and loss of reputation. But there are conditions within and across families and family firms that make the causes of dysfunction and its effects distinct from those of non-family firms.
Cases included in the book will focus on various issues examined in the context of parent-child relationships, family firm growth, integration of the next generation, succession, corporate governance, financial matters and business development. Cases will be divided into topic areas and vary in length, depending on the issues involved. These categories include:
1. Parent-Child Relations: Cases that involve how parent-child relationships and relationship conflict may negatively impact the firm years later.
2. The Next Generation: Cases focusing on firm growth/operations and how the next generation is brought into (or not brought into) the business - and how mismanagement of that process results in negative outcomes including insubordination, sabotage, theft and fraud, nepotism, and family member impediment.
3. Succession: Potential conflicts that occur in the succession process and negative results.
4. Corporate Governance and Financial Matters: Cases that reveal misconduct and corruption that impact the firm as well as society.
Cases should provide an entertaining and informative narrative that includes a decision point as well as discussion questions. Authors should identify which of the previous categories is the focus of the case submission, or if it fits into a different category. Each author is required to submit an instructor's manual/teaching note that includes case synopsis, courses and levels in which the case should be used (appropriate audience), theory application, key issues, case learning objectives, teaching approach and suggested answers for discussion questions.
Length of cases can range from 5-7 pages to 15-20 pages including figures and exhibits, double spaced, 12-point type. Teaching notes should be concise and of length appropriate to the case and subject matter. The case can involve both primary and secondary case research with some authors using archival research and others engaging in interviews with key participants, and some doing both. The names of some of the focal firms and interviewees may be disguised to protect their privacy while other firms may be publicly identified depending on the circumstances. All cases in the book will be recent and involve real companies and situations even if identities are disguised. International cases written by contributors from the global academic community are valued. All cases and notes will be submitted to external reviewers for comments and suggestions for improvement.