Human resource management in family firms: theory and practice

Human Resource Management is an increasingly important topic, that demands attention by managers and entrepreneurs. Indeed, due to the new requirements of employees derived from the Covid-19 pandemic, both companies and workers are facing life and working challenges. The pandemic forced many employees to stay at home, working far from office. This caused an overlap of working and living spaces, with clear discomfort for people. Consequently, the trend asked for a digital transformation of working methods, requiring people to always use their personal computer to complete tasks, talk with colleagues, participate to reunions. As such, many people experiencing stressful situations decided to quit their job. This is known as Great Resignation phenomenon, particularly relevant in USA since 2020, nowadays involving companies all around the world. Therefore, people started thinking about their work from a different standpoint, considering the scope, values, sustainability of job, and the final end of tasks they were involved in. This is recognized as the Great Rethink phenomenon. Starting from the emerging trends in managing people, the first part of the thesis is based on a huge literature review, that considers technology, sustainability, resignation, quiet quitting, and work-life balance as aspects influencing human resource management in family firms. The first part also develops the main themes related to family firms, considered as purpose driven organizations that continuously look for socioemotional wealth. To give a deeper understanding of these themes, a comparison between family and non-family firms is given, together with a focus on employees' engagement. In the second part, empirical research is developed. Starting from theory and results presented previously, the thesis proceeds with the elaboration of data collected through a questionnaire filled in by students and participants of the CUOA Business School, who work in family firms in the North-East of Italy. Interesting and significant results were obtained through the use of descriptive statistics and frequency distributions, together with correlation analysis and cross-tabulations. Data turned out to be in line with the background provided by previous reseraches, indicating that family firms share the same characteristics, challenges and issues all over the world. However, an effective human resource management is the first tool to achieve satisfying organizational outcomes and success.