Representatives of the Croatian Mediation Association held a professional workshop for our students, where students solved real mediation situations in family businesses.
Students of VERN's undergraduate study program in Entrepreneurship Economics participated in a practical mediation workshop, where they learned about and experienced mediation in family businesses through real-life examples, as part of their elective course Family Entrepreneurship taught by Professor Iva Senegović, Ph.D.
The workshop was led by Duška Pribičević-Gelb, a mediator and mediation trainer and vice-president of the Croatian Mediation Association (HUM), and the workshop was also attended by the Secretary General of HUM, Suzana Fugaj , who is also the president of the Young Mediators Club.
Together with our guests, the students resolved various situations typical of family businesses in which various types of conflicts occur, which can be resolved through mediation. In order to more accurately perceive the situations and challenges, they observed and analyzed them from the perspectives of different stakeholders in family businesses, thus learning what a conflict of interests, relationships and values in family businesses means and how such disputes are resolved.
Since students taking this course are directly connected to the topic of family entrepreneurship, and some are even actively engaged in family businesses, they encounter the analyzed situations and dilemmas on a daily basis, so this was a kind of guide for them to solve these challenges.
The guests explained that family mediations are the most difficult forms of mediation, and only mediation in family businesses is more difficult. The reason for this is that conflicts in family businesses mainly arise from the overlap of three different interest systems – family, business and ownership, with a large number of family members involved.
