Effective HR Practices in Family Business in Technology Disruption Era

Today’s world of 21st-century business is said to be a VUCA (Volatility-Uncertainty-Complexity-Ambiguity) world. VUCA describes the fast pace of change in the business environment. It has largely been led by the disruption brought about by technologyled human resources departments within organisations to revise strategy approaches and methods to face these emerging challenges. Research studies show that more than two-thirds of the companies in the world belong to family businesses. In the family business, the owners and HR should see what is going on in the business environment and update the situation. As most family businesses have family members in key positions, the tricky issues faced by family businesses are mostly about handling family and non-family members and creating effective HR policies. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2019 and 2020 has disrupted their business in unexpected ways. This chapter explores different HR practices adopted by the family business and suggests effective HR practices and procedures to meet the multiple challenges in the family business. The chapter also analyses the strategies of HR practices followed by some top family business firms worldwide. The chapter is formed as a meta-synthesis. It provides more qualitative inputs related to recent challenges and effective HR practices adopted in the technologically competitive era and during the COVID-19 pandemic period.