Why conflict escalates in the family business
Exodus 7-12
My previous reflection described the point when Pharaoh’s magicians realized they were seeing God’s power through Moses, and I contemplated the times in our lives when we see or feel God’s touch.
Moses and Aaron continue to plead with Pharaoh to let the Israelistes go, demonstrating God’s power through signs and plagues. Despite each unique signal of God’s power and wrath, Pharaoh refuses. So God raises the stakes for the Egyptians. Here is a list of the plagues, incuding the first four, so you see the full pattern of escalation.
Transforming a staff into a serpent then turning the Nile into blood (Ex: 7)
Bringing a plague of frogs, followed by gnats, followed by flies (Ex: 8)
Killing the Egyptians’ livestock (Ex: 9)
Infecting everyone with boils (including the magicians!) (Ex: 9)
Unleashing a devastating hail storm (Ex: 9)
Whipping up a plague of locusts (Ex: 10)
Covering the land with darkness (Ex: 10)
Killing the Egyptians’ firstborn children and animals. (Ex: 11-12)
God continues to magnify the consequences to the Egyptians for holding the Israelites captive. The plagues, pain, and even death reach a point where Egypt is in ruin and the people are in tremendous pain. Only then does the situation change.
In family businesses, or really any conflict situation, people are not inclined to resolve a dispute until the consequences of continuing in conflict are worse than the pain or difficulty of resolving the dispute. For example, for family members at odds, the consequences might begin with a reduction in communication after a disagreement (the “silent treatment”), escalate to excluding family members from decisions, further heighten to a point where people are actively undermining one another, and possibly ending with family estrangement or cutoff. What brings people back to the table is the realization that those consequences are worse than the akwardness, apologies, or changes in behavior needed to rebuild trust and work together.
Have you ever experienced an escalation of conflict between family members or business partners? What role did the increasing severity of consequences play in its resolution?