Results from Conflict Resolution Survey
Saving a Family Business
A family-owned construction company was about to go out of business because the two brothers running it couldn’t agree on what to do, including whether to fold the business or keep on going. Nova’s Conflict Resolution tools revealed that the conflict styles of the two were so different they might as well have been speaking two different languages. The brother in charge of estimating and contracts had such an Affiliative style that he always said everything was fine, even when it wasn’t, to please everyone. The brother overseeing the actual construction and running of the business normally compromised but falling revenues were now making that impossible, and he began trying to impose his will with disastrous results for the family relationships. Today the business is thriving again in a specialized market under the second brother’s command, while the first brother has been bought out and is now pursuing activities more to his liking.