[en] The influence of the owning family in the management and governance of family businesses provides a unique character for the emergence of constructive conflict management. This phenomenon is precisely the object of this thesis: to understand how constructive conflict management is carried out in family businesses. To achieve this aim, two objectives were proposed: 1) Developing a conceptual model that explains how mutually beneficial relationships and open debates exercise as roots for the emergence of constructive conflict management in family businesses. 2) Providing empirical evidence of this conceptual model to refine the proposed theorization. The first objective was carried out through the conceptual revision of Tjosvold's model (et al., 2014) and its concurrent adaptation to the family business setting including the antecedents based on familiness concepts (Habbershon & Williams, 1999; Pearson et al., 2008). The conceptual model developed, states that there is a special configuration of resources (structural, cognitive, and relational) defined as collaborative familiness that roots mutually beneficial relationships and the adoption of open debates, two main elements involved in the constructive conflict management in the family business (Alvarado-Álvarez et al., 2020). This conceptual review has been published in an academic journal -Negotiation and Conflict Management Research (Volume 3, Number 2, May 2020)- as part of the doctoral process. The second objective was carried out through a multiple case study using a mixed methods approach. Five Spanish family businesses, in the sibling partnership stage, were studied, interviewing individuals who held management or governance positions in the family business (family and non-family). These businesses also demonstrated outstanding innovative performance. It involved indirect observation (Anguera, Portell et al., 2018) of narratives of 17 semi-structured interviews, recorded on audio and transcribed. In a complementary way, documentary sources of different origins were reviewed (internet, company documents, among others). Following the steps to carry out an indirect observation (Anguera, Portell et al., 2018), these narratives were segmented into units of meaning and coded through the use of an ad hoc indirect observation system. Data quality control was carried out with 10% of the textual units, allowing to confirm intra- and inter-observer concordance. The analysis of codes obtained from the coding process, was carried out through polar coordinates analysis individually for each case and according to a previous selection of focal behaviors and conditioned behaviors in coherence with the conceptual model. After obtaining the structures of significant associative relationships, a comparison of the five cases was made that allowed identifying those structures of significant associative relationships that coincided in at least three of the studied cases to identify those structures shared by the cases that could serve as empirical evidence of the conceptual model. The results obtained from the indirect observation of the narratives show a rich structure of significant associative relationships (activation and inhibition) between shared vision and trust at different levels of the constructive conflict management system and according to the different roles played by the family members within the company. Evidence on the specific processes of search for concurrence and open-mindedness in family and ownership forums that account for the relevance of family governance in this type of organization is also provided. Additionally, it can be observed that family businesses are the sum of several subsystems that present a particular resource configuration, highlighting relational and cognitive resources. Results also suggest the potential influence that shared vision, trust, and conflict have on innovation. This study sheds light on constructive conflict management in family businesses that are going through the sibling partnership stage, offering interesting avenues for future research and suggesting a series of practical implications for managers, shareholders, and advisers.

[es] La influencia de la familia propietaria en la gestión y en el gobierno de las empresas familiares imprime un carácter único para la emergencia de la gestión constructiva del conflicto, siendo precisamente éste el objeto de esta tesis: comprender la gestión constructiva del conflicto en las empresas familiares. Para ello se plantearon dos objetivos: 1) Desarrollar un modelo conceptual que explica cómo las relaciones de mutuo beneficio se crean en este contexto específico, generando open-mindedness y una gestión constructiva del conflicto. 2) Aportar evidencia empírica del modelo para poder refinar la teorización planteada. El primer objetivo, se llevó a cabo a través de la revisión conceptual del modelo de Tjosvold (et al., 2014) derivando en la propuesta de un modelo que extiende la teoría de familiness (Habbershon y & Williams, 1999; Pearson et al., 2008) planteando que existe una configuración especial de recursos (estructurales, cognitivos y relacionales) definida como familiness colaborativo que fundamenta las relaciones de mutuo beneficio y la adopción de debates abiertos, elementos implicados en la gestión constructiva de los conflictos en la empresa familiar (Alvarado-Álvarez et al., 2020). Dicha revisión conceptual ha sido publicada en la revista académica Negotiation and Conflict Management Research (Volumen 3, Número 2, Mayo 2020) durante el proceso doctoral. El segundo objetivo, se llevó a cabo a través de un estudio de caso múltiple bajo el enfoque de mixed methods. Se estudiaron cinco empresas españolas en la etapa de sociedad de hermanos con un destacado desempeño innovador. El estudio utilizó la observación indirecta (Anguera, Portell et al., 2018) de narrativas de 17 entrevistas semiestructuradas (grabadas en audio y transcritas) aportadas por personas que ocupaban cargos de dirección o en el gobierno de la empresa familiar. Adicionalmente, se revisaron fuentes documentales de distinta procedencia (internet, documentos de la empresa, entre otras). Siguiendo los pasos para llevar a cabo una observación indirecta (Anguera, Portell et al., 2018), dichas narrativas fueron segmentadas en unidades de significado y codificadas (obteniéndose una matriz de códigos para cada caso) a través del uso de un sistema de observación indirecta ad hoc. El control de la calidad del dato fue llevado a cabo con el 10% de las unidades textuales permitiendo confirmar la concordancia intra e inter-observador. Las matrices de códigos obtenidas se analizaron con la técnica de coordenadas polares. Una vez obtenidas las estructuras de relaciones asociativas significativas de cada caso, se hizo una comparación entre ellas que permitió identificar aquellas estructuras de relaciones asociativas significativas que coincidían en al menos tres de los casos y servían como evidencia empírica del modelo conceptual. Los resultados obtenidos mostraron una nutrida estructura de relaciones asociativas significativas (de activación e inhibición) entre la visión compartida y la confianza y a diferentes niveles del sistema de gestión constructiva del conflicto. Los roles desempeñados en la empresa también guardaban relación con dichos componentes. Se obtuvo evidencia de los procesos búsqueda de concurrencia y open-mindedness en foros familiares y de propiedad indicativos de la relevancia de la gobernanza familiar. Adicionalmente, se evidenció que las empresas familiares son la suma de varios subsistemas con sus respectivas configuraciones de recursos relacionales y cognitivos. Los resultados también apuntan que la confianza, la visión compartida y el conflicto participan en la innovación de las empresas. Este estudio ayuda a la comprensión de la gestión constructiva de conflictos en las empresas familiares en etapa de sociedad de hermanos y ofrece vías para futuras investigaciones e implicaciones prácticas para gerentes, accionistas y asesores.