Workplace Challenges
Just kiddingFor a more productive office, forget glaring bosses and co-workers who are buried in the books. To better workplace performance, jump-start creativity, increase communication and office bonding, tell a joke or a funny story instead, said University of Missouri-Columbia management professor Chris Robert. |
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 [ 2007-11-14 ] |
(Comstock)
"For individuals who can produce or appreciate humour -- that seems to be associated with both intelligence and creativity," said Robert, who wrote a theoretical paper on humour in the workplace with graduate student Wan Yan.
Further, both the processes of sharing something funny and enjoying a story can boost co-workers' moods. And Robert's study suggests a strong link between mood and workplace performance and outcomes. Happier employees, he said, tend to have better communications skills and are less likely to quit.
Certain types of joking around, however, do not always carry across cultures.
"Most people in the U.S. can joke around, pick on their boss," Robert said. "In China, that would be much less socially accepted." Asian countries put much more emphasis on status differences, he said -- and American-style humour could upset those corporate hierarchies.
The study was published in the August issue of Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management.
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