Roland E. Kidwell

Parent–Child Relationships: Planting the Seeds of Deviant Behavior in the Family Firm

We posit that parent–child relationships lead to subsequent leader–member exchange (LMX) differentiation in family firms. This differentiation shapes a childs behavior toward the firm. Altruism is proposed to further increase the effects of LMX differentiation on workplace behavior by fostering feelings of entitlement or rebellion among out–group children and strengthening in–group childrens commitment to the firm. Our article breaks new ground by explaining how parent–child relationships and LMX can result in deviant behavior in family firms, how parental altruism can create vicious and virtuous circles of behavior and how stewardship and opportunism can occur within the same family firm.

The Provision of Effort in Self-Designing Work Groups: The Case of Collaborative Research

Teams of academic coauthors can be conceptualized as self-designing work groups, an infrequently studied but increasingly prevalent group structure. This research note considers issues surrounding how management scholars form collaborative teams, provide effort toward completion of research projects, evaluate colleagues’efforts, and decide whether to pursue further collaborative opportunities with them. The findings indicate that withholding effort occurs in self-designing groups, such as research collaborations, and that the emotional bonds that group members form with colleagues play a key role in whether they decide to work together again, as well as in how they react to perceptions that a coauthor withheld effort.

A Strategic Deviance Perspective on the Franchise Form of Organizing

Drawing on various theoretical perspectives, we propose that franchisors cannot assess and control opportunism absent comparative information provided by owning and operating some of their outlets and by franchising others. Moving beyond dyadic perspectives, we propose that the concept of strategic deviance suggests why franchisors accept deviant behavior resulting from vertical and horizontal agency problems in multiagent contracts. A plural form provides efficiency and quality benchmark information that curbs even greater levels of shirking and free–riding behaviors and enhances system performance. Opportunistic behaviors by company managers and franchisees are addressed through self–enforced social control and social comparison mechanisms.

Electronic Surveillance in the Global Workplace: Laws, Ethics, Research and Practice

This paper considers the legal, ethical and cultural factors that must be addressed in evaluating the appropriateness of employing electronic surveillance (ES) in varying international contexts. It critically evaluates the rationale that underlies the use of ES in a variety of settings and types of organisations. It suggests guidelines for the adoption and use of ES and potential directions for future research.

Successor Team Dynamics in Family Firms

In a qualitative study of 19 family businesses, we examine the dynamics of successor teams, using insights from the family dynamics and succession literature and teams and conflict theory in family business. In-depth interviews with family firm leaders identified two major successor team performance outcomes, a positive track leading to team commitment and a negative track resulting in dissolution of the team and potentially the family firm. Our findings are encapsulated by 10 propositions and a model of successor team dynamics.

The Bad Seed’s Poisonous Harvest: How Offspring Sow and Reap Deviant and Dysfunctional Behavior in the Family Business

It was another night without sleep. What Tony overheard his employees discussing earlier in the day was chilling. They were debating whether it was better when his son, Bobby, didn’t report to work or when he actually came to work at the family’s restaurant. Those arguing that work was better when Bobby didn’t show up cited the times Bobby came to work drunk, stole money, or harassed the female staff. Employees arguing that Bobby needed to report to work complained that his tardiness and unpredictable absences caused their own workloads to increase. One employee lamented about the time she missed her best friend’s birthday party because Bobby did not show up to relieve her. Although Tony knew that his son caused problems for the family, he did not realize that Bobby was also infringing on the employees of the family firm. Nor did he realize that the employees knew the extent of Bobby’s dysfunctional behavior. Tony had thought he had hidden these problems from the rest of the staff. He was obviously wrong. Tony barely got any sleep that night as he tossed and turned thinking about his son’s role in the family business.

Louise and Sidney Homer: a 21st century dual‐career couple, circa 1911

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the lives of early twentieth century opera star Louise Homer and her composer husband Sidney, and their attempts to manage two successful careers and a family of six children. Almost 100 years ago, the Homers – a rare example of a two‐career family – employed several adaptive strategies that academic researchers later suggested for twenty‐first century dual‐career couples.Design/methodology/approach – Considering the work‐family literature, two modern models of managing and coping with the stresses of dual careers were examined and the Homer family were then considered to determine whether they employed similar strategies. Letters were used from the Homers and their children, other original documents and secondary research in investigating the couples efforts to handle the challenges of dual‐careers when the concept of a woman pursuing a profession outside the home was a novelty.Findings – Several adaptive strategies recently “discovered” to be used by upper‐income du...

W.O. Carpenter and the California Gold Rush: the making of entrepreneurial opportunities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to trace the entrepreneurial opportunity identification process of William Oscar Carpenter (WOC), a nineteenth century farmer, who went to California in 1850 to make his fortune in gold mining and ended up starting several new business ventures. The paper seeks to recount WOCs experiences and then apply them to similar issues faced by entrepreneurs in a modern‐day developing economy.Design/methodology/approach – Using qualitative inquiry through archival research, the paper examines a compilation of WOCs letters to his future wife in New York. The letters provide a detailed account of the hardships and poor living conditions faced by gold seekers. The letters are examined and interpreted in the context of opportunity identification and the California Gold Rush, then applied to contemporary entrepreneurs.Findings – WOCs letters elucidate the difficulties encountered making the trip from the East Coast to California, give later generations an historical viewpoint on...

Organizational Demography as a Context of Supervisory Disciplinary Actions

Previous research suggests that the demographic attributes of a work unit can be linked to organizational variables such as communication and turnover rates. The current study continues this line of research by examining the association of work unit demographics of age, gender, race, and education with the use of disciplinary actions in different work units of a nationally based sample offranchise operations. Using a sample of 244fast-food store operations, this studyfound an association between education ratios and use of disciplinary actions. Heterogeneity effects for race were also found. The results suggest that organizational demography is a complex construct that requires both greater theoretical development andfurther empirical research.