On Wednesday, 9th of October, Prof. Michelle Ryan from the University of Exeter gave an up-to-date overview of the available evidence and provided some ideas whether the appointments of female leaders have something to do with financial and economic crises or whether it is all just coincidence. After her presentation there was a lively discussion with the audience, highlighting different viewpoints on the subject.

The term “the glass cliff” refers to the precariousness and risk of failure which women, who take over positions of leadership experience. Contrary to their male counterparts, women are likely to be appointed to positions where they have to deal with difficult situations. This could either be a company or department facing a crisis or the lack of resources and support needed for success. Prof. Michelle Ryan summed up the recent research on this topic. She started with a provocative finding which showed that there is a negative correlation between women in top management and performance of the company. Does that mean the more women on the board of managers the lower the performance of the organization? Prof. Ryan explained this correlation with some of her own research. In her studies she showed that companies often hire women in hard and troubling times, where there is a great chance of failure as a leader. She confirmed this with an experimental study in which participants had to select either a man or a woman with identical CVs for a vacant leading position – in an organization where things are going well and in a company facing a crisis. In the first situation, the participants chose the male candidate, in the second company they went for the female leader. According to Prof. Ryan this is the evidence that “the glass cliff” exists. “A woman is like a tea bag - you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.” With this quotation from Eleanor Roosevelt explained Prof. Michelle Ryan why there is a relationship between the appointments of female leaders and critical situations in the company. In another experiment, Prof. Ryan found out that in successful organizations the desired leadership traits are stereotypical male characteristics – confirming the “think manager, think male!”-prejudice. But in companies having a difficult time, participants opted for the stereotypical female traits when they had to decide what attributes are required from a good manager. This can be summed up by “think crisis, think female”.

As a résumé, Prof. Michelle Ryan emphasized that male and female leaders are facing different leader positions. But which practical implications do these findings have? What can women do? Prof. Ryan stressed that women should not avoid leadership positions. Women, having a position at a “glass cliff”, should make others aware of the quality and challenges of their jobs and claim the time and support needed to master the challenge.

Das Forscherporträt von Rolf van Dick in der Zeitschrift Personalquarterly, Ausgabe 04/2013 finden Sie hier oder direkt unter www.personal-quarterly.de

Alle machen es, es gilt als besonders kreativ - doch am Ende kommt nicht wirklich mehr raus: Brainstorming. Dass diese Technik die Kreativität eigentlich gar nicht befeuert, sondern eher das Gegenteil bewirkt, ist belegt - hat bisher aber wenig Beachtung gefunden. Obwohl die Erkenntnis schon ein halbes Jahrhundert alt ist. Rolf van Dick im Interview mit Eva-Maria Meyer. Hier finden Sie den Link zum Radiointerview.

Beyond the glass ceiling: The glass cliff and the precariousness of women's leadership positions Presentation and discussion at Goethe University Frankfurt Guest speaker: Professor Michelle Ryan, University of Exeter, United Kingdom Date: October 9th, 2013, 18.00h – 20.00h Location: Goethe University Frankfurt, Campus Westend, Grüneburgplatz 1, Hörsaalzentrum, Raum HZ 10 Are leadership positions different for men and women? What happens if women (and other minority groups) take on leadership roles? Research into a phenomenon named “The Glass Cliff” suggests that circumstances in which women are appointed to leadership positions are different from those of men. It particularly suggests that women tend to be appointed to leadership positions that are associated with an increased risk of failure and criticism. We have invited Professor Michelle Ryan as one of the leading researchers in this field who coined the term “The Glass Cliff” as an extension of the metaphor “The Glass Ceiling”. She is Professor of Social and Organisational Psychology at the University of Exeter and recently held a five-year Academic Fellowship funded by the UK Research Council. Beside “The Glass Cliff“ research she is involved in a number of projects including the effectiveness of role models; women‘s ambition in the workplace; the gender-wage gap; leadership succession. To promote a research based discussion, Professor Michelle Ryan will provide an up-to-date overview of the available evidence. Program:

18.00 – 18.15	Welcome
18.15 – 18.30	Event Opening Prof. Dr. Rolf van Dick
18.30 – 19.15	Presentation by Professor Michelle Ryan
19.15 – 20.00	Discussion with the audience
20.00	Get-together: Stand-up reception providing an opportunity for further discussion

Target audience: The presentation is targeted at an audience of practitioners and scientists in the area of human resource management and related fields. The event is supported by the Centre for Leadership and Behaviour in Organizations and conducted in cooperation with the Small Group Meeting on Gender Equality in Organizations (funded by the European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology and the German Research Fund). It is free of charge To register for the event please download the following PDF-file.

Über die Messbarkeit von Familienfreundlichkeit und die ökonomischen Vorteile für Unternehmen berichtet Rolf van Dick in einem Interview in der Welt am Sonntag. Das Interview können Sie hier lesen.

Teamarbeit lässt sich in fast allen modernen Unternehmen und Behörden heute finden. Allerdings ist die Zusammenarbeit in der Gruppe nur dann effektiv, wenn bestimmte Punkte beachtet werden. Rolf van Dick stellt elf Regeln für erfolgreiche Teamarbeit in seinem Gastbeitrag im Human Resources Manager vor. Den Artikel können Sie hier lesen.