By Omogbemi Adelagun
Most organizations are serious places. People go about their business with deliberate and contagious seriousness. They fill in forms seriously, they answer phones seriously, they write letters seriously, they tap the keyboards of their computers seriously, they attend meetings seriously, In short, an air of serious-ness and no-nonsense fills the organizational spaces.
Of course, organizations may well portray themselves as rational, serious and dispassionate, but it is clear that the human beings who operate them do not park their feelings at the factory gate or reception. Organizations are emotional areas where we all play out different dramas – some toned with boredom, disaffection, frustration, fear, humiliation; others with joy, pride, affection and excitement. Therefore working with our own and others’ emotions is part of the unacknowledged but fundamental fabrics of organizational life.
Organizations have different emotional cultures and sub-cultures which shape the way feelings may or may not be expressed. In some organizations, the culture of seriousness was so sacrosanct that anyone who is seen as having time to crack jokes with colleagues is marked out as unbusy and a potential for redundancy or lay-off. From time to time however, humor has got to make a tentative if not a frequent appearance in office life, not only because of the emotional nature of workers, but also because of the therapeutic and stress-relieving potency of humor. The human being is not just a rational entity but a feeling being. A joke in the middle of a stuffy meeting or a cartoon on an office wall lightens the atmosphere and raises a smile.
It may appear that old books on management and organizations had not paid much attention to the phenomena of humor in office life, that is, to the motivating, re-harmonizing and re-energizing potency of jokes and humor in office life. Perhaps because they were not seen as a part of the serious business of organizing, but in fact as an aberration. Very effective leaders have however mastered the art of comedy and humor and are always able to deploy humor to get the best of their team and command them to high performance in times of crisis, tension or during moments of intense work pressure.
While some organizations are doubtlessly less fun places to be in than others, it does not take long to discover that the air of seriousness in many organizations is only paper thin. Underneath, a continuous humorous banter goes on, providing an unofficial commentary on organizational life. People joke, laugh, play tricks on each other and generally try to have a good time. Organizing fun in the workplace can be an antidote to stress and boredom, especially in highly routinized jobs. A comic and playful atmosphere can help defuse tensions and conflicts and provide an acceptable relief-valve for pent up feelings. It is simply cathartic and therapeutic
This explains why in very recent times, organizational leaders and management gurus have been interested in the way that workers’ feelings affected their productivity. The intuitively plausible assumption has been that a happy worker is also a productive one. It is also found that extreme stress can be contagious. People can arrive at work reasonably relaxed but because of another person’s stress, end up feeling stressed themselves. As stress carriers move around an organization, especially those in powerful positions, the effects become more widespread, even poisonous. The spread of toxic emotions such as stress, humiliation, psychological pain and fear can paralyze people, creating a defensive and depressed workforce. Leaders who rule by fear, impulse or harsh order can seed anxiety and fearfulness in the organization. Toxic handlers like comedians and colleagues who are given to humor can however help play a containment role. Toxic handlers are like sponges, soaking in and holding the damaging emotions.
Humor has thus been regarded as a management tool, something that can be deliberately cultivated to transmute toxic emotions, and improve employee morale and performance. For example, the British Airways has hired a corporate jester; IBM has experimented with office playrooms; a US Engineering Firm offers ‘inside-out-days where employees can wear their clothes inside out. Psychologists and Psychotherapists have also found that sharing a laugh and a joke is an important way of creating personal meaning and purpose in a job, especially for workers who feel stuck in mundane and repetitive jobs. Laughter and humor also make light of the many injuries we sustain in organizations especially humiliation or injuries to our pride and dignity, and those arising from bureaucratic frustrations or work pressure. Joke and laughter defuse tense situations, break the monotony and let the weak turn the tables on the strong.
Alas! Humor and laughter is however not without its ugly side, and must be done with discernment and with some degree of rationality or consideration. Manufactured humor can appear gimmicky, a management ploy that backfires. It is awkward and embarrassing for the person who does not want to join in. More sharply it can fuel cynicism if it is seen as an easy way for management to avoid tackling poor working conditions or unsatisfactory jobs. One must therefore pick rightly the time and the audience. You do not laugh too much with a madman or an intensely hungry man, or with a virulent antagonist. So sometimes, a modest smile or chuckles may happily be what is needed.
Notwithstanding the delicate and dark side, humor and jokes far from being inconsequential, are important features of organizational life. They are becoming a strategic tool for manpower transformation. They break the organizational routine and enable people to cope with boring jobs or stressed work situation. They generate trust and affection from those sharing without hates and permit the venting of unacceptable views and emotions by offering a moral amnesty which permits the breaking of organizational taboos.
Omogbemi Adelagun is a notable Corporate Writer and Corporate Counsel Doyen in Nigeria
