Over the edge? Subversive humor between colleagues and friends

Holmes, Janet; Marra, Meredith

doi:10.1515/humr.2002.006

Cited by 212 publications

(138 citation statements)

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“…Yet, definitions are important for consistent empirical identification. We therefore define humor as "utterances…intended by the speaker(s) to be amusing and perceived to be amusing by at least some participants" (Holmes, 2000: 163; see also Cooper, 2008;Hay, 2000;Holmes & Marra, 2002). This definition operationalizes humor by facilitating the identification of "instances of humour…on the basis of paralinguistic, prosodic and discoursal clues" (Holmes, 2000: 163) and is consistent with a practice-based approach to the discursive construction of organizations (for a review, see Balogun, Jacobs, Jarzabkowski, Mantere & Vaara, 2014).…”

Section: Constructing and Responding To Paradox Through Humormentioning

confidence: 99%

We Have To Do ThisandThat? You Must be Joking: Constructing and Responding to Paradox Through Humor

Jarzabkowski

Lê

2016

Organization Studies

163

233

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This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. We have to do this and that? You must be joking: Constructing and responding to paradox through humor This paper adopts a practice approach to paradox, examining the role of micro-practices in shaping constructions of and responses to paradox. Our approach is inductively motivated. During an ethnographic study of an organization implementing paradoxical goals we noticed a strong incidence of humor, joking and laughter. Examining this practice closely, we realized that humor was used to surface, bring attention to, and make communicable experience of paradox in the moment by drawing out some specific contradiction in their work. Humor thus allowed actors to socially construct paradox, as well as -in interaction with others -construct potential responses to the multiple small incidences of paradox in their everyday work. In doing so, humor cast the interactional dynamics that were integral in constructing two response paths: (i) 'entrenching a response', whereby an existing response was affirmed, thereby continuing on a particular response path, and (ii) 'shifting a response', whereby actors moved from one response to paradox to another, thereby altering how the team collectively responded to paradoxical issues. Drawing on these findings, we reconceptualize paradox as a characteristic of everyday life, which is constructed and responded to in the moment. This paper was inspired by an observation we made a few months into our ethnographic study of a telecommunications firm beset with paradox: People make a lot of jokes about paradoxical conditions. We increasingly found ourselves sharing things participants had been laughing about, as we 'checked in' with each other after fieldwork. For example, one particular day managers were working with the paradoxical tensions occasioned by trying to implement a joined-up technology across divisions that had to maintain strict structural separation to comply with regulation. Tensions were running high as they discussed a 'piece robot' technology that might get around the problem without co-locating their engineers. Suddenly, laughing, one of them suggested that what they really needed was a 'peace robot' to help settle the tensions between them in trying to do their jobs in this paradoxical structural context. The others in the meeting quickly joined the joke, laughing and making peace signs in the air, insisting the peace robot should be included in the resulting action plans. Laughing, the team leader agreed and the meeting progressed with a better will to work with the paradoxical conditions to implement the joined-up technology. Sure enough, there was a humorous picture of a robot with a peace symbol on its chest and doves on its shoulders in the action plans, which occasioned further laughter at the next meeting. Permanent repository linkRevisiting our notes, we often found ourselves chuckling at such humorous incidents.These managers were dealing with pa...

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Section: Constructing and Responding To Paradox Through Humormentioning

confidence: 99%

We Have To Do ThisandThat? You Must be Joking: Constructing and Responding to Paradox Through Humor

Jarzabkowski

Lê

2016

Organization Studies

163

233

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“…Humor negatywny (HN) (negative humor) -również jest to podskala oparta na wspomnianym wyżej modelu Martina i wsp. [7], oznacza humor agresywny, deprecjonujący inne osoby lub służący demonstracji siły [13], występujący wewnątrz grupy pracowników. 3.…”

Section: Charakterystyka Hcqunclassified

Humor at work questionnaire – Polish adaptation of Humor Climate Questionnaire (HCQ)

Stańczak

Drabek

2017

Med Pr

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StreszczenieWstęp: Celem niniejszego artykułu jest zaprezentowanie polskiej adaptacji kwestionariusza do pomiaru humoru w pracy jako elementu klimatu organizacyjnego (Humor Climate Questionnaire -HCQ). Materiał i metody: Autorzy w wyborze najlepszych wersji tłumaczonych pozycji wykorzystali tłumaczenie back-translation i metodę sędziów kompetentnych. Analizy właściwości psychometrycznych dokonano na podstawie danych pochodzących z 2 fal badania -podstawowej grupy pracowników (N = 217) i grupy biorącej udział w badaniu dwukrotnie (N = 55). Wyniki: Wyniki analiz wskazują, że właściwości psychometryczne kwestionariusza HCQ są zadowalające. Podział na 4 czynniki uzyskany za pomocą analizy eksploracyjnej i dopasowanie do nich pozycji odpowiada modelowi teoretycznemu oryginalnej wersji narzędzia. Zgodność wewnętrzna podskal jest wysoka, wartości współczynników α Cronbacha mieszczą się w przedziale 0,8-0,9. Kierunek i siła zależności między nimi w znacznym stopniu pokrywają się z wersją anglojęzyczną. Kwestionariusz HCQ jest narzędziem umiarkowanie stabilnym w czasie (r = 0,44-0,74). Wnioski: Polska adaptacja HCQ jest rzetelna i nadaje się do badań przekrojowych. Uzyskane wyniki są porównywalne z danymi pochodzącymi z oryginalnej wersji kwestionariusza. Wyniki analizy konfirmacyjnej nie pozwalają jednak wnioskować o pełnym dopasowaniu danych do modelu. Med. Pr. 2018;69(2):143-152 Słowa kluczowe: adaptacja, kwestionariusz, praca, humor, klimat organizacyjny, HCQ Abstract Background: The aim of the paper is to present the Polish adaptation of the Humor Climate Questionnaire (HCQ), designed to measure humor as organizational climate feature. Material and Methods: The authors employed back-translation and independent judges method to choose the best version of the translated items. The psychometric properties of HCQ were estimated on the basis of 2 samples: the basic group of employees (N = 217) and the group of employees who had completed the survey twice (N = 55). Results:The results of statistical analyses proved that HCQ is a reliable tool. Explorative Factor Analysis supported the 4-factor structure of the original method's theoretical model. The validity of the subscales is high, Cronbach's α varied from 0.8 to 0.9. The directions and values of intercorrelations between subscales were similar to those of the English version. The Humor Climate Questionnaire is a relatively time-stable tool (r = 0.44-0.74). Conclusions: Polish adaptation is reliable and applicable for cross-sectional studies. The obtained results are comparable to the characteristics of the original version. However, the results of factor analysis show that the data do not fully fit the theoretical model. Med Pr 2018;69(2):143-152

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“…As seen in literature, humour allows the less dominant group to challenge hegemony, resist authority and do power in a non-threatening way (Holmes, 2000;Holmes & Marra, 2002;Martin, 2006). Doing power through humour can be seen in labour's justification of their claim for a bigger wage increase (Extract 1F) and in their efforts to persuade management to present a better offer (Extracts 3A), through teasing and joking.…”

Section: Labour Expressing Its Voice and Challenging Hegemony Throughmentioning

confidence: 99%

Humour in Power-Differentiated Intergroup Wage Negotiation

Teng‐Calleja

Montiel

Baquiano

2015

Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology

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T his research examined the role of humour in power-differentiated wage bargaining conversations. We collected transcripts of wage bargaining between the local labour union and management negotiators of a multinational beverage company operating in the Philippines. Through conversation analysis, we determined how both parties utilised humor to challenge or maintain power relations even as both labour and management worked towards a wage bargaining agreement. Findings show that humour was used to maintain intergroup harmony, subvert authority and control the negotiation. Our findings may be useful for labour organisations and multinational corporations that operate in Southeast Asian countries with historically tumultuous labour relations such as the Philippines. Studies have shown how humour can play a significant role in various social interactions, such as business meetings (RogersonRevell, 2007) Our research examines the role of humour in powerdifferentiated wage bargaining conversations between company management on one side and a labour union on the other. We start this article with a brief overview of the dynamics of power relations in negotiations and how humour is utilised by unequal parties in interactions. We then argue why the lens of conversation analysis is particularly useful in examining how humour emerges and shapes the dynamics of power-differentiated wage bargaining conversations. Negotiations and Power Relations

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Over the edge? Subversive humor between colleagues and friends

Cited by 212 publications

References 12 publications

We Have To Do ThisandThat? You Must be Joking: Constructing and Responding to Paradox Through Humor

We Have To Do ThisandThat? You Must be Joking: Constructing and Responding to Paradox Through Humor

Humor at work questionnaire – Polish adaptation of Humor Climate Questionnaire (HCQ)

Humour in Power-Differentiated Intergroup Wage Negotiation

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