Office_humor

Office humor

Office humor, also often called workplace comedy, is humor within the workplace, in particular, office, environment. It is a subject that receives significant attention from students of industrial and organizational psychology and of the sociology of work, as well as in popular culture.

Academic considerations

Humor is an inevitable part of the social environment of work, and has been argued to be a potential tool for improving worker satisfaction and organizational results. Studies have suggested that humor can increase worker cohesiveness, creativity, motivation, and resilience in the face of adversity.[1][2][3]

On the other hand, workplace humor (especially negative humor) can also be misused to reinforce bigotry, denigrate minorities, create an atmosphere of physical or sexual harassment, or as a management tool to reinforce managerial authority.[1][4]

Inappropriate workplace humor may be deemed as "evidence in sexual harassment, discrimination and hostile work environment cases".[5] It has led to serious consequences in cases such as the Krull case, where the ombudsman of King County, Washington was fired for sending a copy of the 1894 booklet Instruction and Advice for the Young Bride to his soon-to-be-married assistant,[6] or Chevron Corporation having to pay more than $2 million as a settlement with four employees after an interoffice email circulated on the subject of "25 Reasons Why Beer is Better Than Women".[5]

Office humor is the focus of comic strips (Dilbert, Gaus Electronics, Help Desk, Misaeng, User Friendly, Sosiaalisesti rajoittuneet), movies (Office Space, Head Office), TV series (Abbott Elementary, Parks and Recreation, The Office, 30 Rock & Superstore) and contemporary art (as in works by Mike Kelley[7][8]).


References

  1. Wijewardena, Nilupama, Hartel, Charmine E. J., and Samaratunge, Ramanie. "A laugh a day is sure to keep the blues away: managers' use of humor and the construction and destruction of employees' resilience." In Wilfred J. Zerbe, Charmine E. J. Härtel and Neal M. Ashkanasy, eds., Emotions and Organizational Dynamism (Emerald Group Publishing, 2010), ISBN 978-0857241771, pp. 259-278. Excerpts available at Google Books.
  2. Karen E. Klein, "Humor in the Workplace", Bloomberg Businessweek, November 5, 2007.
  3. Ford, T. E., & Fitzgerald, C. M. "Sexist humor in the workplace: A case of subtle harassment." In Jerald Greenberg (Ed.), Insidious Workplace Behavior (Routledge, 2010), ISBN 978-1848728585, pp. 175-206. Excerpts available at Google Books.
  4. Tom McGlynn, "Mike Kelley: Laughing at Deadlines", Artwrit, Winter 2012.

Further reading

  • T Bradford Bitterly; Alison Wood Brooks; Maurice E Schweitzer (10 November 2016). "Risky business: When humor increases and decreases status". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 112 (3): 431–455. doi:10.1037/pspi0000079. PMID 27831701. S2CID 3437230.

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