An action research on management succession at Cereal Food Corporation

• Main Author: See, John Andrew C.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2014
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/4752
• Institution: De La Salle University

Given the prevalence of family businesses around the world and the significant role they play in the development of most modern economies, family businesses survival and prosperity can have a significant effect on the larger economy. This is one of the reasons why a number of researches on management succession exist, especially since one important consideration in the study of family businesses, especially in relation to strategic development, is the existence of family goals and its inter-relatedness to business goals of profit. At Cereal Food Corporation, I have realized that our companys high dependence on me and my father in the management of the business, affects the risks related to our business continuity, especially since my father had already passed the age of retirement while I, and the other members of our family, have also expressed our desires to pursue other interests outside our familys business. Both of these factors, in turn, would affect our companys future management capabilities. To address this issue, I have undertaken an action research on management succession that would enable our company to prepare for the expected reduced involvement of our family members in the management of our business. The said management succession process initiated included coaching, mentoring, and training of our employees, specifically our two secretaries and the assistant manager, as well as the implementation of certain business process improvements to ensure proper checks and balance in our operations that allowed me to transfer some level of authority to them. In the course of my action research, I have also realized how applicable theoretical models such as the Stages of Succession Model (Handler, 1990), the Relay-Race Model (Dyck et al, 2002), the Relationships Model (Fox et al, 1996), and Kurt Lewins Model of Change, among others, in helping to explain the different factors to consider in the preparation and implementation of management succession in a family business.