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Family businesses have a dual objective of profit making and providing opportunities for family members. This duality leads to a conflict that may bring poor team work and communication, which is difficult to reconcile. Thus, the study looked into how the performance of family enterprises is affected by family dynamics. Additionally, it examines the relationship's ability to be mediated by effective leadership.

The study adopted a quantitative, explanatory research approach. The study population was family-owned enterprises in KwaZulu-Natal's South Durban Basin, of which 236 were chosen using a snowball and convenience sampling technique. Data was analysed using various descriptive and inferential statistical techniques, namely, multiple regression and the standard deviation.

The finding of the study shows that family dynamics significantly influenced business performance both directly and indirectly through effective leadership. Besides, the family firms with larger employee sizes have better effective leadership that positively contributes to the business performance.

The study recommends that family businesses should train their members to ensure leadership effectiveness.

This study is unique in that it was conducted in Black Townships and focusses mainly on businesses owned by families of Indian descent that need to prepare for leadership/ownership. It also contributes to academic literature on family dynamics and will encourage families to recognise the importance of strong leadership in controlling family dynamics to improve business success.

Increasing demand on rail transport speeds up the introduction of new technical systems to optimize the rail traffic and increase competitiveness. Remote control of trains is seen as a potential layer of resilience in railway operations. It allows for operating and controlling automated trains and communicating and coordinating with other stakeholders of the railway system. This paper aims to present the first results of a multi-phased simulator study on the development and optimization of remote train driving concepts from the operators’ point of view.

The presented concept was developed by benchmarking good practices. Two phases of iterative user tests were conducted to evaluate the user experience and preferences of the developed human-machine-interface concept. Basic training requirements were identified and evaluated.

Results indicate positive feedback on the overall system as a fallback solution. HMI elicited positive emotions regarding pleasure and dominance, but low arousal levels. Train drivers had more conservative views on the system compared to signalers and students. The training activities achieved increased awareness and understanding of the system for future operators. Inclusion of potential users in the development of future systems has the potential to improve user acceptance. The iterative user experiments were useful in obtaining some of the needs and preferences of different user groups.

Multi-phase user tests were conducted to identify and to evaluate the requirements and preferences of remote operators using a simplified HMI. Training analysis provides important aspects to consider for the training of future users.