eprintid: 10153329 rev_number: 7 eprint_status: archive userid: 699 dir: disk0/10/15/33/29 datestamp: 2022-08-04 13:49:48 lastmod: 2022-08-04 13:49:48 status_changed: 2022-08-04 13:49:48 type: proceedings_section metadata_visibility: show sword_depositor: 699 creators_name: Markopoulos, Evangelos creators_name: Ukperaj, Denis creators_name: Vanharanta, Hannu title: Democratic Management Succession in Balkan Family Businesses: Appointment of Family and nonfamily Members in Leadership Roles ispublished: pub divisions: C05 divisions: F49 divisions: B04 divisions: UCL keywords: Family business, Succession, Entrepreneurship, People, Economy, Society, Governance, Management, Leadership, Balkan, Company democracy, Organizational culture note: © 2022 Published by AHFE Open Access. The authors of papers published in the AHFE Open Access Proceedings will retain full copyrights as specified by the provisions of the Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. abstract: Given that the nomination of family and nonfamily members to top senior positions may set personal interests against corporate ones, this may lead to serious problems in the firm’s strategic direction when the two are not compatible. Consequently, potential successors should be assessed across different domains to determine who is the best fit for a leadership role. Accordingly, this paper introduces the Democratic Employee Connect Model (DECM), a step-gated framework that can provide a potential solution for family businesses when planning for management succession. It comprises six steps, which will guide family-owned enterprises during this crucial process. The six steps of the model align with the Company Democracy Model to democratically identify the most suitable candidate in the succession process, which is often driven by personal and family interests. The paper also presents research limitations that can be considered for future research. date: 2022 date_type: published publisher: AHFE International official_url: https://doi.org/10.54941/ahfe1001521 oa_status: green full_text_type: pub language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green verified: verified_manual elements_id: 1968684 doi: 10.54941/ahfe1001521 lyricists_name: Markopoulos, Evangelos lyricists_id: EMARK80 actors_name: Markopoulos, Evangelos actors_name: Kalinowski, Damian actors_id: EMARK80 actors_id: DKALI47 actors_role: owner actors_role: impersonator full_text_status: public pres_type: paper publication: Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship volume: 31 pagerange: 185-195 event_title: 13th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE 2022) book_title: Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship citation: Markopoulos, Evangelos; Ukperaj, Denis; Vanharanta, Hannu; (2022) Democratic Management Succession in Balkan Family Businesses: Appointment of Family and nonfamily Members in Leadership Roles. In: Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. (pp. pp. 185-195). AHFE International Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10153329/1/Markopoulos_Democratic%20Management%20Succession%20in%20Balkan%20Family%20Businesses-%20Appointment%20of%20Family%20and%20Nonfamily%20Members%20in%20Leadership%20Roles_VoR.pdf