The main story of the case Precista Tool AG is about the conflict in a family business, which showed in the following areas: (1) Parent-child conflicts & family dynamics; (2) Management succession problems; (3) Business-family complications and (4) The plight of women managers. Mr. Huebel and his daughter Greta have different insights in several aspects in the management of the business after Greta was appointed as the manager of financial and administrator of the company in 1983. During this period of time, Mr. Heubel's strong sense of attachment, reluctance to give up control and power and unwillingness to delegate interfered with Greta's management method. Differences in values, vision and management styles causes conflict, which leads to strained relationships, rivalry and power struggle. In the flowing several years, the father and daughter's conflict became severe as Mr. Huebel's son joined the company. Mr. Huebel played off offspring against one another and wanted his only son Peter to be the successor of the company. An emotional involvement with his son greatly harmed Greta's feeling and working attitude. On the other hand, as a woman minority with no engineering backgrounds, Greta felt the pressure coming from the tradition that men should be the decision maker of the company in engineering area. There is also some conflict between Mr. Heubel's family and the Non-family management member in the company. The insufficient communication severe the conflict and finally Greta decided to resign from the company.
The conflict in the case is complex. I will analyze the case from multiple perspective in the following pages.
Analysis of the case from multiple perspectives
1. The Structural Frame is about how to organize and structure groups and teams to get results. The "structural" manager tries to design and implement a process or structure appropriate to the problem and the circumstances. This includes:
*to clarify organizational goals
*manage