Glass Cliff

What Is a Glass Cliff?

The term "glass cliff" alludes to a situation where ladies are elevated to higher positions during times of crisis or duress, or during a recession whenever the chance of failure is more probable. Put essentially, ladies in these situations are set up for failure. The term was authored by researchers at the University of Exeter, United Kingdom who distributed research on the 100 companies remembered for the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100 Index. These researchers found that elevating ladies to higher positions frequently accompanies negative ramifications. furthermore, that being set up for failure is the equivalent of standing on the edge of a cliff. Assuming they fail, they fall off.

Understanding a Glass Cliff

The glass cliff happens in various fields, including finance, politics, technology, and the scholarly world. it tends to the inclination to advance ladies into problematic situations, whether that is organizational or situational. This makes it more probable that their performance will vacillate. The representation of the glass cliff is that ladies in this position are at risk of falling off a cliff and failing.

There are many motivations behind why ladies are elevated to more unsafe leadership jobs than men. One is the thought that a striving company will probably result in a more limited upper management tenure so the position itself is risky. Putting a lady in that position gives the company somebody to fault in the event that she fails to pull the company out of its downward spiral.

"In times of crisis, companies would rather not risk the loss of who they accept to be their most valuable, high-expected ability — white men. In difficult stretches, they are bound to sacrifice employees who they see as not so much valued but rather more dispensable — ladies and racial minorities," as per chief executive officer (CEO) of Pinsight and creator Martin Lanik, CEO of Pinsight.

It likewise does right by the company. On the off chance that the lady fails, the company is marked as being progressive and is free to replace her with a man. On the off chance that she succeeds, the company is better off and may even assume praise for appointing the right person to make it happen. Even with the high chance of failure, a glass cliff position can be hard to turn down since leadership jobs are so rarely offered to ladies.

There is no connection between leadership potential and orientation. By keeping ladies out of top leadership positions, companies are missing out on the absolute top and skilled leaders. Moreover, by permitting the glass cliff phenomenon to endure, organizations establish an environment where these female leaders battle to perform to the best of their ability.

Special Considerations

Ladies frequently battle when they're placed on a glass cliff. That is on the grounds that there is many times a lack of tutors in the workforce. There may likewise be barriers for them to access what is commonly called esteemed gentlemen's club, which is a casual network of associations through what men utilize their positions of influence by giving blessings and data to help different men.

Strategic networking is one of the most common strategies for moving up in the world of business. This is where the phrase "It's currently what you know, it's who you know" starts. Ladies can't do this without networking with men and seeking out men as guides. However, ladies aren't generally welcome in these casual social networks so they pass up these associations.

Albeit the glass cliff normally alludes to the deterrents that ladies face, the term is likewise commonly used to depict the difficulties minorities and other minimized bunches face when they are elevated to leadership jobs in the workplace.

History of the Glass Cliff

In 2004, University of Exeter researchers Michelle K. Ryan, Julie S. Ashby, and Alexander Haslam concentrated on the 100 companies remembered for the FTSE 100 Index, which comprises of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) with the highest market capitalizations.

As per the researchers, companies that appointed ladies to their boards were bound to perform ineffectively in the previous five months. They guaranteed that sexism roused people with great influence to appoint ladies to these unstable positions since they would rather not risk discoloring a conspicuous man's reputation with failure.

Ryan, Ashby, and Haslam followed up their research with one more study including law understudies, which was distributed in an article called, "Legitimate Work and the Glass Cliff: Evidence that Women are Preferentially Selected to Lead Problematic Cases." That's what they found:

• Male up-and-comers were just basically as possible as females to be chosen as lead counsel for okay cases
• There was a strong preference for females to be appointed to high-risk cases and that they were regularly assigned to cases that were headed for failure

Other Research

In 2013, Alison Cook and Christy Glass researched the probability of promotions and leadership tenure of ladies and racial/ethnic minority CEOs inside American Fortune 500 companies. Utilizing a dataset of all CEO transitions over a 15‐year period, their discoveries lined up with the glass cliff theory that occupational minorities (white ladies and people of variety) are more probable than white men to be advanced as corporate CEOs that perform inadequately.

In their paper, Cook and Glass composed:

"Minority leaders face difficulties that start at the point of promotion and go past underrepresentation ... they are bound to be appointed to battling firms, making greater impediments to fruitful leadership than their white male companions."

Their research additionally revealed that performance declines under the tenure of white ladies and minorities lead to them being replaced by white men. A female CEO succeeded one more female CEO in just four of the 608 transitions at Fortune 500 companies. The researchers instituted this phenomenon the "rescuer effect."

Businesses drove by female CEOs are bound to be targeted by [activist investors](/activist-financial backer), as indicated by University of Missouri research. These investors explicitly buy shares determined to coordinate management choices and must register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as per Vishal K. Gupta, Sandra Mortal, and Daniel B. Turban. That's what their discoveries revealed:

"...firms in our sample drove by male CEOs were targeted by an activist 6% of the time during the study period, versus 9.4% when the CEO was female. Wolf pack assaults happened for male and female CEOs at 1% and 1.6%, individually. Even however these differences show up small, this means that organizations with female CEOs were half bound to be targeted by activists and roughly 60% bound to be targeted by different activists."

Impact of a Glass Cliff

Ladies as of now face numerous barriers when they are attempting to scale the corporate ladder and enter leadership jobs. A similar scenario is likewise true for different minorities, like minorities. The glass cliff causes a sad and unthinkable situation where they are set up to fail in a workplace for individuals who outperform these snags.

"At the point when an organization is in crisis, ladies are frequently viewed as having the option to come in and deal with a problem. They're effectively given the wreck to clean up," as per Anna Beninger, senior director of research and corporate engagement partner at Catalyst.

In addition to the fact that this phenomenon setting is ladies and minorities up for failure, but on the other hand it's unsustainable for the actual businesses. At the point when a company is in the pains of an organizational crisis, it might not have the infrastructure and extra support to work with an effective leadership transition. Assuming that an individual is advanced with next to no sort of organizational support or development, it might bring about the illusion of progressiveness or inclusivity for the company when, in reality, that individual is being tokenized as a minority.

At the point when a female leader or a person of variety at last doesn't save a failing company, they generally leave the company and make more disruption. What's more, assuming these individuals fail, it further reinforces the generalizations that exist about ladies and minorities in leadership.

In the event that you feel like you've been oppressed in the workplace, you can file a protest at your neighborhood Equal Employment Opportunity Commission office in person or via mail. Ensure you have every one of the relevant subtleties convenient, including dates, as well as the contact names and numbers of your employer.

The most effective method to Prevent a Glass Cliff

The initial step to prevent the glass cliff is to perceive and name it essentially. As per Ryan, Ashby, and Haslam, recognizing the biases that those in leadership might have, then, at that point, giving education around those subjects is a decent initial step.

Ladies and minorities ought to research and advance however much they can about the financial health of their companies. Keeping awake to-date on experiences, including the company's stock data, and industry trends can assist you with ascertaining your risk level. Taking advantage of your network is likewise unquestionably important. The researchers propose asking for guidance and knowledge while surveying the risk of another promotion.

During exchanges, it is really smart to ask how progress in the job will be defined. Here are a few inquiries you should seriously mull over posing:

• How might the board of directors (BoD) of the company assess my prosperity?
• What sorts of risks are board individuals ready to take to turn into a competitive force in this industry?
• What is your optimal timetable for a turnaround?
• Have you offered this position to any other individual? For what reason did they turn it down?

Ensure you remember risk for your salary negotiations. As a matter of fact, men are four times bound to arrange their salaries than ladies. You ought to continuously ask for more than the initial offer and utilize the risk factor of the position as an arranging point. On the off chance that you choose to acknowledge the position, you will probably end up in a male-ruled environment. As of now, you can utilize your unique skills and viewpoint to your advantage. As a matter of fact, ladies score better than men in 11 out of 12 emotional intelligence competencies.

At last, it's OK to say no. Numerous ladies who face the glass cliff and are not fruitful don't get asked to lead one more company in the wake of being removed.

It is prescribed to not acknowledge a promotion assuming your research shows that failure is highly probable and there are warning signs inescapable.

Glass Cliff versus Glass Ceiling

The possibility that a glass cliff exists for ladies (and ethnic minorities) emerged from another, comparable concept: the glass ceiling, which a great many people commonly hear in the professional circle. The glass ceiling alludes to an invisible barrier or hurdle that ladies frequently face in their professional careers. It is additionally commonly used to portray what many ethnic minorities face in comparable situations.

The concept of a glass ceiling was first utilized by Marilyn Loden, who talked about the progression of ladies in the workplace (or lack thereof) at the Women's Exposition in New York in 1978. It was promoted very nearly a decade after the fact by The Wall Street Journal. The term came to conspicuousness again when Hillary Clinton ran for U.S. president in the 2008 and 2016 races.

This barrier is many times set up to prevent certain ladies and others from arriving at the highest executive or managerial levels inside their particular organizations. These positions are overwhelmed by men. These hurdles are implicit and unwritten, and that means implicit biases prevent promotion as opposed to corporate policies. Individuals who figure out how to beat the generalizations and conquer their impediments by securing leadership jobs are said to have broken the glass ceiling.

Illustration of a Glass Cliff

There are a number of models where noticeable ladies have faced glass cliffs.

Marissa Mayer

Hurray! appointed Marissa Mayer as CEO in 2012 after it lost huge market share to Google. She was the company's third CEO in a period of under a year. Mayer surrendered in 2017 in the midst of mounting pressure after she failed to change the company's direction. She was exclusively in the position for around five years. Pundits credited her performance to her work, as opposed to the environment of an underperforming company. Thomas McInerny, a white male, was tapped to replace Mayer.

Jill Soltau

JCPenney employed its most memorable lady CEO in 2018. Jill Soltau was appointed following a series of consecutive losses, store terminations, and challenges adjusting to the changing requirements of its customers in the digital time, While just a modest bunch of ladies have at any point filled in as chief executives of Fortune 500 companies, she was qualified for the position. Prior to expecting the job, Soltau was the president and CEO of Joann Stores and was a 30-year veteran of the industry.

Soltau was coming into a difficult industry. JCPenney had gigantic debt, leading specialists to accept the company wouldn't have the option to keep away from bankruptcy. The COVID-19 pandemic proved to be unfortunate. The company filed for bankruptcy in May 2020, which was sooner than expected. In December 2020, Soltau was asked to leave her position as CEO.

Highlights

• Advancing ladies gives companies somebody to fault assuming that she fails to pull the company out of its downward spiral.
• In the event that ladies fail, companies are free to reappoint guys to their positions without rebuke.
• A glass cliff alludes to the way that ladies are commonly elevated to leadership jobs in certain industries during times of crisis or downturn and are, subsequently, set up for failure.
• Companies look great when they elevate ladies to leadership jobs so even on the off chance that they fail, the company actually procures a reputation of being progressive.
• The term is derived from the term glass ceiling, which alludes to a concealed and implicit limit on how high ladies can rise in an organization.

FAQ

How Could Women Avoid a Glass Cliff?

Companies need to put measures in place to ensure that ladies and minorities in senior leadership positions have the resources they should find success. While there are things that ladies and minorities can do to make it doubtful that they'll wind up in an unthinkable glass cliff scenario, the onus is truly on companies to prevent this phenomenon from occurring. Companies can offer ladies explicit leadership development tracks and conduct blind hiring to reduce the effects of oblivious bias.

What Do Companies Hope to Gain From a Glass Cliff?

The glass cliff effectively keeps up with the state of affairs since it can reinforce the destructive thought that ladies and ethnic minorities can't lead. At the point when ladies or minorities are elevated to leadership positions without the support they need and are not effective, the assumption is that ladies and minorities are bad leaders.

When Do Women Encounter a Glass Cliff?

Ladies in leadership jobs, like business executives in the corporate world and female possibility for political office, are more probable than men to be elevated to leadership jobs during periods of crisis or downturn whenever the chance of failure is highest.