Evolving Roles on the Pathway to Generational Transition

In 2022, Australia-based property and home development company Douglas Family Group was full of internal conflict. The co-owned family business had recently decided that changes were needed in order to grow and secure a stable family income for the future. To that end, the company brought in non-family advisers and board members, and eventually hired a non-family chief executive officer (CEO). However, the organizational changes did not go smoothly, due to the myriad challenges of introducing external employees to a family business. Soon, family members and top management alike started to complain that the changes did not work and demanded that the previous CEO, a second-generation Douglas family member, come back to fix things. As revenue decreased and conflict spread, the family knew it only had one chance to fix things and save the company. What was the best course of action to get back on track?

The case is best suited for family business, entrepreneurship, and corporate governance courses. It is appropriate for master of business administration and undergraduate business students. The situation and events described in the case can help students appreciate the complex issues related to managing growth-oriented firms, particularly growth-oriented family firms, and related challenges in identifying and implementing a corporate governance structure that supports company strategy. This case also provides opportunities for students to explore the relationship between trust and control in an organizational context and how these dynamics influence, and are influenced by, the corporate governance structure. More specifically, after working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:<br><br><ul><li>Describe the different organizational life cycle stages and their related challenges for growth.</li><li>Discuss the importance of assessing, developing, and implementing corporate governance structures, particularly in the context of family ownership and related decision-making processes.</li><li>Develop an understanding of the interrelatedness of trust and control in organizational settings and how this relates to stewardship theory.</li></ul>

• organizational change
• corporate governance
• family business
• growth strategies
• managing growth
• family firms
• governance structure
• non-family CEO
• business development
• company expansion
• trust and control
• stewardship theory
• leadership transition
• board advisors
• financial restructuring
• legal structure
• family dynamics
• decision making
• business challenges
• management issues
• generational transition