Humor and Work: Applications of Joking Behavior to Management

TLDR

The review aims to examine humor in management by exploring its theoretical foundations, empirical research, and legal implications for employee relations. It accomplishes this through a comprehensive literature review of accepted humor theories, studies on humor in management and behavioral science, and an analysis of legal and arbitral aspects. The authors conclude that, although interest has been sporadic, joking behavior remains pervasive and offers significant insights into management and organizational behavior.

Abstract

This review focuses on three fundamental aspects of humor and work. First, we review accepted theories of humor and their implications for the field of management. Second, we review and summarize the research on humor in management and related areas of behavioral science. Third, we provide a specific application of the importance of humor and work with an examination of the legal and arbitral aspects of humor as it relates to employee relations. This review concludes that even though the interest in humor by management has been sporadic, joking behavior remains a pervasive and important topic and has the potential of providing significant insights into management and organizational behavior.