Abstract: The impact of Chinese “family” culture is deeply rooted in Chinese family business.?This kind of culture, which has its origination from the patriarchal relations of Confucian culture, affects the Chinese family business at both positive and negative sides.?When a professional manager, an outsider of the family, joins into the business and tries to help its development with his or her professional skills, the “family” culture may show its negative effects, hindering the role the professional manager should play.? It is based on such consideration that we try to take the expectancy theory as a starting point and put forward the following suggestions: during the process of introducing professional managers, the private business should take full account of the attitudes and influences of family members into considerations, develop reasonable performance objectives and remuneration package with the professional manager, and achieve the purpose of effectively motivate professional managers to serve the enterprise by safeguarding the psychological contract between them.

Key words: family business; “family” culture; professional manager; incentive