Meaning
A situation in which a member of an underrepresented group, especially a woman, is promoted to a leadership position only when the organisation is already in crisis, so that the role carries a high risk of failure. The term highlights how such appointments can look like progress while actually exposing the appointee to blame for problems predating them. Neutral-to-critical sociological term; usually implies the appointee was set up to fail rather than lacking ability. Regional use: General English; strongest in business, politics and academic contexts.
Origin
The term was coined in 2004 by psychologists Michelle Ryan and S. Alexander Haslam of the University of Exeter. Their research was prompted by a Times newspaper article claiming that women executives harmed company performance; when Ryan and Haslam studied FTSE 100 board appointments, they found the reverse causation: firms tended to appoint women to boards after periods of poor performance, placing women in precarious leadership spots. They published the key evidence in a 2005 paper in the British Journal of Management ('The Glass Cliff: Evidence that Women are Over-Represented in Precarious Leadership Positions') and developed the concept further in a 2007 Academy of Management Review article. The phrase, a deliberate echo of 'glass ceiling', spread quickly into business journalism, politics (notably applied to UK prime ministers) and organisational psychology, and the Exeter work was shortlisted for the 2005 Times Higher Education Research Project of the Year.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- glass cliffs
- glass-cliff effect
- pushed over the glass cliff
- the glass cliff
Usage Examples
- She was only offered the CEO chair after two profit warnings, a textbook glass cliff.
- Researchers have found glass cliff appointments in law firms, universities and political parties, not just corporate boards.
- Critics argued that the party's decision to make her leader during the crisis amounted to steering her toward a glass cliff.