Understanding Family Business Relationships: Preserving the Family in the Business

Abstract

This article provides an example of how the results of one qualitative study can be applied to a clinical case. The first part of the article contains a summary of a funded qualitative study on family business. Family members were asked to discuss how combining business with family affects their work and personal lives. In this summary, a condensed literature review is followed by a brief discussion of the research methodology and the presentation of the results. The research findings offer three categories that emerged from the participants’ responses. Next, the article presents a discussion of implications for practice with a family business case example. In this example, the author illustrates how she applied the three research categories to her clinical work with a business family.