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Management

When considering the relationship between humor and management, several questions may arise: Is humor a management tool? How may humor be utilized by managers? How may humor assist managers in getting their work done and in achieving their various objectives? This entry addresses these questions by briefly outlining some of the various functions of humor as a management tool. After having outlined some of the positive functions of humor as a management tool, the entry also briefly discusses “another” side of humor, namely, as a means of coercion and control. Differences in the use of humor across workplaces are also mentioned.

Humor as a Management Tool

Although the link between humor and management is not immediately obvious, humor may indeed be used as a tool to assist and enhance the practice of management. In particular, humor may perform valuable functions to support a wide diversity of management activities, including those that are both interpersonally as well as transactionally oriented. Interpersonal functions include, for example, enhancing teamwork and creating a positive working atmosphere, motivating staff and increasing their productivity, as well as minimizing status differences. Transactionally oriented behaviors refer to more immediately task-oriented activities, such as getting things done and communicating negative messages (such as criticism, rejection, or disagreement). Each of these functions of humor as a management tool is discussed briefly in this section.

Enhancing Team Work and Creating a Positive Working Atmosphere

Perhaps one of the best known functions of humor is to create solidarity and a positive and often friendly atmosphere. This effect of humor is particularly important in a workplace context where humor may be used to create and maintain friendly social relationships between colleagues, as well as between managers and their team members. These positive effects of humor, in turn, may contribute toward enhancing teamwork and establishing a positive working atmosphere where members feel included, valued, and appreciated. The process of creating a positive working atmosphere is often described more widely in terms of contributing to the creation (and maintenance) of a particular workplace or corporate culture that characterizes a specific workplace or company. There is some evidence that the kinds of humor used by those in management positions tend to have an impact on the culture of a particular workplace, for example, whether its members value collaboration, inclusiveness, and mutual support or whether they encourage individualistic behavior and competitiveness. For example, frequent teasing, jocular abuse, and short witty comments with which people may try to outwit each other tend to be characteristic of more individualistic and highly competitive workplaces. Through their repeated use of these specific types of humor, managers (and, to a lesser extent, other team members) contribute to constructing and reinforcing the norms (and culture) of their specific workplace.

These processes of enhancing teamwork and creating a positive atmosphere or culture of a particular workplace may also have positive effects on a team’s cohesion and performance, which in turn may contribute to increasing that team’s high productivity.

Motivating Staff and Increasing Their Productivity

One of the main aims of managers is to motivate their staff with the ultimate goal of increasing their productivity. The link between staff motivation and productivity has long been established, and there is some evidence that suggests that people who are happy work more productively. Humor is an excellent tool to achieve this, not only by creating a positive, friendly, and generally supportive workplace atmosphere but also by establishing and maintaining friendly collegial relationships among staff. Several research studies have described some of the positive effects of humor on staff motivation, creativity, and productivity, in particular through increasing employees' overall job satisfaction. Some of the functions of humor that contribute to achieving this include relieving tensions and dealing with stress, stimulating people’s intellectual activity and preventing boredom and fatigue, boosting morale, facilitating teamwork, sparking discussions, and encouraging lateral thinking.

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