The "Dark Side" of Humour. An Analysis of Subversive Humour in Workplace Emails
Although a substantial amount of research has investigated the various functions of humour in a workplace context, electronic means of communication have largely been ignored. This is particularly surprising since electronic communication in the workplace is increasingly gaining significance. This seems to be especially true for email, which in many workplaces is the preferred medium for communicating transactional as well as relational topics. Drawing on a corpus of about 100 emails collected in an academic setting, we explore how humour is used in workplace emails. Our specific focus is on subversive humour, which often functions as a tool to express frustration and dissent, and ultimately to challenge existing power relations. Our analysis illustrates that subversive humour is an excellent means to make fun of established and normative workplace practices by exaggerating and ridiculing them, and to re-define organisational reality by offering alternative interpretations. These functions of subversive humour appear to be particularly useful for those in relatively powerful positions: by employing humour to convey critical and potentially threatening messages in acceptable ways, the senders manage to express their dissent and frustration with the wider organisational system while, at the same time, escaping the scrutiny of the very organisation that they are symbolically challenging.
References
Holmes, Janet., Meredith Marra and Louise Burns. "Women's humour in the workplace: A quantitative analysis." Australian Journal of Communication 28.1 (2001): 83-108.Search in Google Scholar
Holmes, Janet., Meredith Marra and Meredith Marra. "Over the edge? Subversive humor between colleagues and friends." Humor 15.1 (2002): 65-87, doi: 10.1515/humr.2002.006.10.1515/humr.2002.006Search in Google Scholar
Lakoff, George. "‘War on terror’, rest in peace…" Rockridge Institute (February 28, 2006) http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/research/lakoff/gwot_ripSearch in Google Scholar
Abdullah, Nor Aniza. Relational Communication in Organisational Email: A Malaysian Case Study. Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya, 2003.Search in Google Scholar
Baron, Naomi. "Letters by phone or speech by other means: The linguistics of email." Language and Communication 18 (1998): 133-170, doi: 10.1016/S0271-5309(98)00005-6.10.1016/S0271-5309(98)00005-6Search in Google Scholar
Brown, Reva Berman and Dermott Keegan. "Humor in the hotel kitchen." Humor 12.1 (1999): 47-70.10.1515/humr.1999.12.1.47Search in Google Scholar
Cameron, Deborah. Working with Spoken Discourse. London: Sage, 2001.Search in Google Scholar
Caudron, Shari. "Humor is healthy in the workplace." Personnel Journal 71.6 (1992): 63-68.Search in Google Scholar
Clouse, Wilburn and Karen Spurgeon. "Corporate analysis of humor." Psychology: A Journal of Human Behaviour 32.3-4 (1995): 1-24.Search in Google Scholar
Collinson, David L. "‘Engineering humour’: Masculinity, joking and conflict in shop-floor relations." Organization Studies 9.2 (1988): 181-199, doi: 10.1177/017084068800900203.10.1177/017084068800900203Search in Google Scholar
Consalvo, Carmine M. "Humor in management: No laughing matter." Humor 2.3 (1989): 285-297.10.1515/humr.1989.2.3.285Search in Google Scholar
Coser, Rose Laub. "Laughter among colleagues. A study of social functions of humor among the staff of a mental hospital." Psychiatry 23 (1960): 81-95.10.1080/00332747.1960.11023205Search in Google Scholar
Diekmannshenke, Hajo. "From postcard to e-card: Tradition and change in the smallest spaces." In Language and New Media: Linguistic, Cultural, and Technological Evolutions, edited by Charley Rowe and Eva L. Wyss. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press (in print).Search in Google Scholar
Duncan, Jack W. and Philip J. Feisal. "No laughing matter: Patterns of humour in the workplace." Organizational Dynamics 17.3 (1989): 18-30, doi: 10.1016/S0090-2616(89)80024-5.10.1016/S0090-2616(89)80024-5Search in Google Scholar
Duncan, Jack W., Larry R. Smeltzer and Terry L. Leap. "Humor and work: Applications of joking behavior to management." Journal of Management 16.2 (1990): 255-278, doi: 10.1177/014920639001600203.10.1177/014920639001600203Search in Google Scholar
Ehrenberg, Tamar. "Female differences in creation of humor relating to work." Humor 8.4 (1995): 349-362.10.1515/humr.1995.8.4.349Search in Google Scholar
Fairclough, Norman. Language and Power. London: Longman, 1989.Search in Google Scholar
Fairclough, Norman. and Ruth Wodak. "Critical discourse analysis." In Discourse as Social Interaction. Discourse Studies: A Multidisciplinary Introduction, edited by Teun van Dijk, 258-284. London: Sage, 1997.Search in Google Scholar
Fatt, James Poon Teng. "When business can be fun." Management Research News 25.1 (2000): 39-48, doi: 10.1108/01409170210783016.10.1108/01409170210783016Search in Google Scholar
Fleming, Peter and André Spicer. "Beyond power and resistance: New approaches to organizational politics." Management Communication Quarterly 21.3 (2008): 301-309, doi: 10.1177/0893318907309928.10.1177/0893318907309928Search in Google Scholar
Gumperz, John. "On interactional sociolinguistic method." In Talk, Work and Institutional Order. Discourse in Medical, Mediation and Management Settings, edited by Srikant Sarangi and Celia Roberts, 453-471. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1999.10.1515/9783110208375.4.453Search in Google Scholar
Holmes, Janet. "No joking matter! The functions of humour in the workplace." Paper presented at the Australian Linguistics Society Conference. Queensland: Brisbane University, 1998.Search in Google Scholar
Holmes, Janet. "Politeness, power and provocation: How humour functions in the workplace." Discourse Studies 2.2 (2000): 159-185, doi: 10.1177/1461445600002002002.10.1177/1461445600002002002Search in Google Scholar
Lynch, Owen Hanley. "Humorous communication: Finding a place for humour in communication research." Communication Theory 12.4 (2002): 423-445, doi: 10.1093/ct/12.4.423, 10.1111/j.1468-2885.2002.tb00277.x.10.1093/ct/12.4.423Search in Google Scholar
Morreall, John. "Humor and work." Humor 4.3-4 (1991): 359-373.10.1515/humr.1991.4.3-4.359Search in Google Scholar
Mullany, Louise. "Gender, politeness and institutional power roles: Humour as a tactic to gain compliance in workplace business meetings." Multilingua 23 (2004): 13-37, doi: 10.1515/mult.2004.002.10.1515/mult.2004.002Search in Google Scholar
Mullany, Louise. Gendered Discourse in the Professional Workplace. Houndmills: Palgrave, 2007.10.1057/9780230592902Search in Google Scholar
"Oxford English Dictionary: The definitive record of the English language" http://www.oed.com/Search in Google Scholar
Pizzini, Franca. "Communication hierarchies in humour: Gender differences in the obsterical/gynaecological setting." Discourse and Society 2.4 (1991): 477-488, doi: 10.1177/0957926591002004008.10.1177/0957926591002004008Search in Google Scholar
Pogrebin, Mark R and Eric D. Poole. "Humor in the briefing room. A study of the strategic uses of humor among police." Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 17.2 (1988): 183-210, doi: 10.1177/089124188017002003.10.1177/089124188017002003Search in Google Scholar
Poster, Mark. The Mode of Information: Poststructuralism and Social Context. Cambridge: Polity, 1990.Search in Google Scholar
Rodrigues, Suzana B. and David L. Collinson. "‘Having fun?’ Humour as resistance in Brazil." Organization Studies 16.5 (1995): 739-768, doi: 10.1177/017084069501600501.10.1177/017084069501600501Search in Google Scholar
Rosenberg, Lawrence. "A qualitative investigation of the use of humor by emergency personnel as a strategy for coping with stress." Journal of Emergency Nursing 17 (1998): 197-202.Search in Google Scholar
Rowe, Charley. "Genesis and evolution of an email sibling code." Ph.D. diss. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2001.Search in Google Scholar
Rowe, Charley. "Building ‘code’: Development, maintenance, and change in a private language." American Speech 82.3 (2007): 235-261, doi: 10.1215/00031283-2007-011.10.1215/00031283-2007-011Search in Google Scholar
Schnurr, Stephanie. Leadership Discourse at Work. Interactions of Humour, Gender and Workplace Culture. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, fc.Search in Google Scholar
Seckman, Mark A. and Carl J. Couch. "Jocularity, sarcasm, and relationships: An empirical study." Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 18.3 (1989): 327-344, doi: 10.1177/089124189018003004.10.1177/089124189018003004Search in Google Scholar
Sproull, Lee and Sara Kiesler. "Reducing social context cues: Electronic mail in organizational communication." Management Science 32 (1986): 1492-1512. Reprinted in Computer-Supported Cooperative Work: A Book of Readings, edited by Irene Grief. San Mateo, CA: Morgan Kaufman, 1988.Search in Google Scholar
Ulloth, Joan Kay. "A qualitative view of humor in nursing classrooms." Journal of Nursing Education 42.3 (2003): 125-129.10.3928/0148-4834-20030301-08Search in Google Scholar
Van Dijk, Teun A. "The study of discourse." In Discourse as Structure and Process. Discourse Studies: A Multidisciplinary Introduction, Vol. I, edited by Teun Van Dijk, 1-34. London: Sage, 1997.Search in Google Scholar
Waldvogel, Joan. The Role, Status and Style of Workplace Email: A Study of Two New Zealand Workplaces. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington, 2005.Search in Google Scholar
Waldvogel, Joan. "Greetings and closings in workplace email." Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 12 (2007): 456-477, doi: 10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00333.x.10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00333.xSearch in Google Scholar
Wodak, Ruth. "What CDA is about - a summary of its history, important concepts and its developments." In Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis, edited by Ruth Wodak and Michael Meyer, 1-13. London: Sage, 2001.10.4135/9780857028020.n1Search in Google Scholar
Yates, Simeon. "English in cyberspace." In Redesigning English: New Texts, New Identities, edited by Sharon Goodman and David Graddol, 106-133. London: Routledge, 1996.Search in Google Scholar
This content is open access.
