Humor and group effectiveness

Abstract

Despite the importance of groups in the workplace and the demand from workers for a fun work environment, there is no model that explains how successful organizational humor can impact work groups. The purpose of this article is to present a model, based on Hackman's framework of group effectiveness, that can be used to understand the relationship between successful organizational humor and group effectiveness. We explore the ability of successful organizational humor to influence groups through its positive impact on group productivity, viability and learning. Based on the literature from several disciplines, we propose that successful organizational humor can have a positive impact on a variety of group processes (e.g. effective communication, development of group goals, management of emotion, etc.) and outcomes (e.g. group productivity, group viability, and development of group members), which contribute to overall group effectiveness. The model has the potential to both advance theory on organizational humor and to offer value to practicing managers by providing an understanding of how two seemingly unrelated factors (humor and group effectiveness) are in fact related in a meaningful fashion.

Healthy humour: Using humour to cope at work

“…Humour makes the workplace more pleasant and reduces stress and tension (Meyer 1997) and can also offer people the chance to discuss personal painful events within a format that reduces distress and anxiety. Banter between colleagues relieves boredom at work (Plester & Sayers 2007) and contributes to group cohesiveness (Romero & Pescosolido 2008). Fun and enjoyment are fundamental in people's lives (Monk et al 2002) and more managers and organisational leaders are identifying the need for employees to laugh and play at work.…”

Humor como Estratégia Discursiva na Compreensão da Dinâmica do Espaço Organizacional

“…Por meio da revisão de literatura, foi possível identificar o reconhecimento de três teorias principais sobre humor: Teoria do Alívio (Romero & Pescosolido, 2008;Cooper, 2008;Greatbatch & Clark, 2003), Teoria da Superioridade (Romero & Pescosolido, 2008;Cooper, 2008;Greatbatch & Clark, 2003) e Teoria da Incongruência (Romero & Pescosolido, 2008Cooper, 2008Greatbatch &Clark, 2003;Lynch & Schaefer, 2009 A atitude humorística é um mecanismo de defesa para rejeitar uma realidade e proteger-se do sofrimento.…”

“…Em outras palavras, o riso está relacionado com a surpresa após a resolução de incongruências percebidas e pode expressar o afeto, bem como a malícia ou o alívio (Greatbatch & Clark, 2003;Cooper, 2008;Romero & Pescosolido, 2008). A Teoria da Incongruência de humor sugere que "o humor é…”

“…A hierarquia é aqui classificada como a distância do poder percebido e o recebido. O humor, nesse processo, pode ser usado para diminuir a distância entre líderes e funcionários, ou pode servir também para reforçar as posições de poder (Cooper, 2008;Romero & Pescosolido, 2008). Com a utilização do humor, é possível quebrar barreiras impostas pela hierarquia e, dessa forma, encorajar uma comunicação mais livre e aberta entre o grupo.…”

Achmed the dead terrorist and humor in popular geopolitics

“…Other academic studies of humor are more applied, such as organizational and group contexts (Romero and Pescosolido 2008), which theorize about the relationship between humor and productivity, group cohesion and identity formation. Larger-scale issues of social ordering through embarrassment have also been linked to the role of humor (Billig 2001a).…”