Stage 3 – Start-Up: Duties

Comments on division of duties were most often made in response to direct questions:

Q4.2: How did you initially allocate resources between the business and the family (includes time)?

Q4.5: How did you initially structure business and family operations during start-up?

Q6.1: How do you allocate day-to-day decision-making for the business?

Q6.2: How do you allocate day-to-day decision-making for the family?

The Theme-Category Analysis uncovered Theme 6: Allocation of responsibilities based on passion, interest and strengths (held constant throughout business life).

The start-up structure (i.e. allocation of responsibilities) reflected choosing individual areas of responsibility based on ability and interest of each owner. In one case, the accounting function was allocated based on “who disliked it the least,” but in most cases, there was an intuitive allocation of functional responsibilities based on who “liked” to do what. Furthermore, the initial functional structure was not based only on gender roles (or roles that would allow the female owner flex-time for child-care duties), but were based on natural

abilities and individual desires. Initial allocation of duties has continued for more than 20+ years.

[10] F: You know I think that has held true all the way through. I mean [my husband] has been the outside person and I have been the inside person. [He] has been the technology person and I haven’t. I’ve been maybe the employee person. I know I’ve been the legal person, although I make him do the actual contact work. But I’m the one who gets to read through the contracts and say “nyet.” And I’m the one who manages the money although that evolved slowly. I’m not sure we made really conscious decisions about how we would do that in the very beginning but now 30 years into it we definitely have a kind of a fixed arrangement about who takes care of what.

[1] M: We never said… [she] never said to me, you're going to do this. We just looked at it and I think we knew each other's strengths and weaknesses and we just kind of separated and just went and did it. It just kind of... there was no verbal saying, you're going to do this or I'm going to do that. It just kind of fell that way.

[8] M: So, the way we set this up, which really has not changed… [she] is in charge of everything we pay for. I am in charge of everyone who pays us. We don’t have a vote, we don’t even have a voice on the other side unless we’re asked…. We are a totally empowered partnership.

[7] Interviewer: How do you allocate the day-to-day decision-making for the business?

M: You know we certainly don’t sit down and talk about it. We just seem to do it. This needs to be done and I’ll say OK I’ll do that, or she’ll say she’ll do that.

[2] M: When we first incorporated, we decided jointly – [my wife] you’ll be the president the first year and then every other year we’ll alternate. That has never changed. So, she’s still president! [laughs].

NVivo analysis confirmed Theme 6: Allocation of responsibilities based on passion, interest and strengths (held constant throughout business life). NVivo revealed additional detail regarding how duties were assigned when neither partner had the skill or desire to take them on.

[1] M: Yeah, I mean she knew I wasn't good with money right off the bat….

I'm still not, a very good delegator.

F: Yeah. Baking was one of those things that just fell into my lap because he had less experience with it.

[2] M: My wife said, well I really don’t want to do the books. And I go well I really don’t want to do the books. So then it became a point of like who doesn’t want to do it more. And she really didn’t want to do the books, so I inherited doing the financial end of the company.

[3] F: I think initially back then and even now, our whole lives it’s been what do we “want.” Who “wants” to do that, first. And if neither of us wants to do that, who would be best at doing it?

In addition, the division of duties and authority was described as beneficial to the marriage.

[4] F: We started separating out the jobs and said look we’re gonna do it so there’s no second guessing the person who’s doing it. The person who’s doing it will report to the other person, but you know they’re gonna be in charge of that. And that’s the way we have stayed happily married while we were still running the business.

In other cases, business responsibilities were carried out based on the functional needs of the business.

[1] F: …but it was almost as though we had the list in our heads and we were just kind of... whoever was ready to do it just did it and checked it off and moved on to the next thing. So, that's really what happened. We were both in the kitchen, we both cooked, we both took care of the clients, or I took care of the clients more than [my husband] did, but we were both in the kitchen day and night.

Household responsibilities were divided along traditional lines in most cases with female partners indicating a greater ownership of household decisions. However, this was not consistent in all cases. One couple (an American/Asian family) who reported equal ownership and strategic management of the business, divided up day-to-day responsibilities along more traditional male-female roles.

[6] M: She runs the house and makes sure everything’s going here. And I run the office. And the work…I think one of the things that’s really worked well for us, I think, a really important thing, is that we kind of know where are places are. We didn’t really have to discuss them. It just kind of happened. She took on the house and the kids’ schedules and my schedules and family stuff and the finances of the home and keeping it going. And mine was the office, and we both trust each other that it’s gonna be done right.

The oldest couple in the sample reported more traditional division of responsibilities. However, three couples with children articulated a more flexible division of responsibilities.

[3] F: I don’t ever remember who took care of the household things.

[7] M: Whoever was available.

F: Or whoever could best solve the issue.

M: We just did it.

[10] F: When we started, the business was in our home. So it was not difficult to make those allocation decisions. I mean whatever happened, happened.