Explores how humor can be explained across the various sub-disciplines of linguistics, in order to aid communication.

Accessible and amusing in style, Humour, Work and Organization explores the critical, subversive and ambivalent character of humour, work and comedy as it relates to organizations and organized work. It examines the various individual, organizational, social and cultural means through which humour is represented, deployed, developed, used and understood. Considering the relationship between humour and organization in a nuanced and radical way and this book takes the view that humour and comedy are pervasive and highly meaningful aspects of human experience. The richness and complexity of this relationship is examined across three related domains. They are: how humour is constructed, enacted and responded to in organizational settings how organizations and work are represented comedically in various types of popular culture media how humour is used in organizations where there is a more explicit relationship between the comedic and work. An exciting and controversial text, Humour, Work and Organization will appeal to students of all levels as well as anyone interested the full complexities of human interactions in the workplace.

This work traces the origins and evolution of the concept of humor in psychology from ancient to modern times with an emphasis on an experimental/empirical approach to the understanding of humor and sense of humor. In addition to more than 3,000 important citations and references pertaining to the history, theories, and definitions of the concept of humor, this reference guide contains more than 380 recent (post-1970) annotated entries on the psychology of humor in its bibliographic section. The book describes various psychological, nonpsychological, and philosophical theories and definitions of humor, and focuses on the methodological concerns of psychologists regarding the scientific investigation of humor. The bibliography is organized under 10 categories, including Bibliographies and Literature Reviews of Humor, Cognition and Humor, Methodology and Measurement of Humor, and Social Aspects of Humor.

This book is the first-ever authoritative work on the use and management of humor in the workplace. It is a practical guide for everyone involved: the humorists (‘jokers’), the targets (sometimes ‘victims’), the observers (‘audience’) and most of all the managers who have to ‘set the tone’ and encourage, control and manage humor. Humor is part and parcel of every workplace. However, while it usually demonstrates and fosters a united, happy workforce, it can at times be deeply damaging and divisive. The authors – academics with vast organizational experience and a research-based understanding of humor at work – bring together state-of-the art knowledge of the topic, making it fun, accessible and readable for all humor participants. The topics include how humor works, humor cultures in organizations, the many forms of workplace humor and their pros and cons, humor rituals at work, digital humor, workplace jokers, the 21st century issue of ‘political correctness’, and both the ‘bright side’ of humor (assisting positive cultures, making work ‘fun’), and its ‘dark side’ (where humor offends and humiliates). With over 60 ‘real life’ illustrative stories of workplace humor, a self-completion questionnaire to measure the Humor Climate in your organization, end-of-chapter ‘takeaways’ and an end-of-book summary advocating ‘best practice’, the book is a ‘fun’, how-to-do-it guide that will both inform and entertain.