ARTICLE PRESENTATION

By –
Naveen
Singh
Kumar 1
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 With the recent dismissal/demotion of Erin
Callan (Lehman Brothers), Zoe Cruz
(Morgan Stanley), and Sallie Krawcheck
(Citi), a 2005 article in the British Journal of
Management entitled "The Glass Cliff:
Evidence that Women are Over-Represented
in Precarious Leadership Positions" is being
scrutinized anew.

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 Glass ceiling?
 The Glass ceiling – phrase coined in 1984 to mean an
invisible barrier to women being promoted beyond middle
management.
 Research into the glass cliff examines what happens when
women (and other minority groups) take on leadership
roles. Extending the metaphor of the glass ceiling, 'the
glass cliff' describes the phenomenon whereby individuals
belonging to particular groups are more likely to be found
in leadership positions that are associated with a greater
risk of failure and criticism.

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 The Times – November 11th 2003

“So much for smashing the glass ceiling and

using their unique skills to enhance the
performance of Britain’s biggest companies.
The triumphant march of women into the
country’s boardrooms has instead wreaked
havoc on companies’ performance and
share prices”
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 The Times – November 11th 2003

Cranfield Index ranking FTSE 100 companies:

Percentage of women on their boards of directors

4 of the top 5 companies have underperformed
The bottom 5 companies all outperformed

‘Corporate Britain may well be better off

without women
on the board’
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 Problems with this Analysis

Crude measures of women in leadership and

performance
Does not take into account:
• changes in the number of women
• date of appointment
• length of service
• fluctuations in performance over time
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 Archival Study: Ryan & Haslam, 2004

Reverse the causal

sequencing
A company’s poor
performance could
trigger the
appointment
of a woman to the
board
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 Archival Study: Summary

Contrary to the Times,

the appointment of a woman to the board of directors was

not associated with a subsequent drop in company
performance

In a time of a general financial downturn in the stock

market, companies that appointed a woman had experienced
consistently poor performance in the months preceding the
appointment.
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 Women don't want to be the boss

Middle and lower management of the retail industry is less

male-dominated than most parts of the British economy. But
there are only three female chief executives among the 66
store groups listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Why is it that such a high proportion of women retailers do not

want to become chief executives? The survey says that
women shy away from the top jobs because they are unwilling
to sacrifice their family life, are less aggressive than their male
counterparts and are less concerned with job status than men.

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Some Factors resulting in Glass cliff
situation :
PERSONAL BIAS

ISOLATION FROM THE TEAM

CRASHING ON FAILURE

PERSONAL Vs PROFESSIONAL LIFE

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 Evidence from Other Domains
In politics:

• Canada — Kim Campbell, Prime Minister

• Australia — Joan Kirner (VIC)
Carmen Lawrence (WA), State Premiers
All appointed mid-term, post-crisis

Premier 3 yrs
PM four months Premier 2 yrs
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High-school students asked to select a candidate for a youth
representative position for a music festival doing well or
doing badly.

The Candidates

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Ranking of Candidates

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 Athena Factor

 The Athena Factor, a new Harvard Business Review

Research Report, examines the female brain drain to
find out what’s causing it, and how to stop it.

 41 % of SET professional are female.

 52 % of which quit their job.

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 If the companies can able to control the
attrition of women by 25 %, they need not to
train the additional 2,20,000 qualified
professional.

Cutting
female
attrition
yields huge
gains

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 The Times Publication
 Nov. 2003 The Times publish an article
“Women on board: Help or Hindrance.”

 Based on correlation analysis.

 Wreaking havoc on the performance of FTSE

100 Companies.

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 Anecdotal Evidence
 Glass-cliff position– Potentionally dangerous.
(Meindl, 1993; Haslam et al,
2001)
 [I was] promoted to manager at a time when failure of
the company was inevitable. In my estimation I needed
6 months to put new practices in place and put the
company on an even keel — I was made redundant
after three and a half months.’
(Female Professional, 35)

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 The other side of the coin
 Glass-cliff position not necessarily lead to failure.

 It may seem as a “ Opportunity.”

 ‘I am a geologist and I have always had great

difficulty getting jobs in mining. I have found that
picking and accepting glass cliff situations has helped
me to get jobs…. I have proved that I can and as a
consequence I now charge accordingly.’
(Female Professional, 48)

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A Positive Attitude
Towards Life………….

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 Conclusion
 Extending the metaphor of the ‘glass ceiling’, we
argue that women are more likely than men to
confront a ‘glass cliff’, such that their leadership
appointments are more likely to be made in
problematic organizational circumstances and are
thus more precarious.
 I believe that Women make great managers , the
thing that really bothers me is that they need keep
their personal biases ,which may arise out of
personal or professional life, at bay. The day this is
achieved Women may turn into successful leaders
rather than being mere Managers....
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Life Can Be Beautiful………………..

If Looked From the Other side………

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Women Can Also Smile………..
:o)

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 Sources
 Presentation by Dr. Michelle Ryan and Prof.
Alex Haslam.
 Glass cliff by Sylvia Ann Hewlett.
 The Times Publication.
 FTSE reviews.
 Google India.
 Discussion Forums.

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