Impact of an educational process intervention on perceptions of goal congruence in Puerto Rican family business groups

The purpose of this study was to determine how a family business educational process intervention and the separate diagnostic, content, and social components within the intervention impacted perceptions of goal congruence among family members of Puerto Rican family firms. It also assessed an individual's learning about the family business system and the effect of changes in perceptions of goal agreement on learning.; Goal congruence was identified with an individuals' perceptions of group agreement and was assessed along two dimensions: (1) the degree of convergence among family members' perceptions of agreement (standard deviation) and (2) the level of agreement in family members' perceptions of agreement (mean). Individual perceptions of group agreement were measured at the beginning of the day and after each of the three educational treatments using four versions of an instrument designed for the study. The repeated measures design enabled the study to determine how goal congruence changed within family business groups, and to assess the separate effects of the educational treatments. Learning about the family business system was measured as a self-reported assessment, relating to the three components of the system: (a) learning about the business as a family business, (b) learning about the family as a business family, and (c) learning about oneself in the family business. The effect of goal congruence on individual learning and changes in an individuals' views concerning family business meetings were explored.; The findings indicated that there was a significant positive change in degree of convergence but not in level of agreement. Family groups with more initial divergence experienced the greatest convergence and individuals in family groups with greater convergence had significantly higher levels of perceived agreement. Individual learning was related to positive convergence in perceptions, but not to changes in the level of agreement. Individuals experienced a significant increase in learning during the day across each of the three dimensions of the family business system. The study did not find a significant increase in the views of participants concerning the importance of family meetings, but views on the scope of who should attend family educational meetings increased significantly.