The Use of Humor to Teach Management FYP

Contents
CONTENTS..........................................................................................................................................................1

TABLE OF FIGURES..............................................................................................................................................1

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL....................................................................................................................................3

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.........................................................................................................................................4

ABSTRACT...........................................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................................................5

LITERATURE REVIEW...........................................................................................................................................6

HUMOR....................................................................................................................................................................6
TRAINING.................................................................................................................................................................9
MANAGEMENT......................................................................................................................................................12
DILBERT PRINCIPLE:...............................................................................................................................................13

METHODOLOGY................................................................................................................................................13

RESEARCH QUESTION............................................................................................................................................13
DATA COLLECTION.................................................................................................................................................13
TRAINING INSTITUTIONS .......................................................................................................................................14
TRAINEES...............................................................................................................................................................15

RESULTS............................................................................................................................................................15

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE TRAINEES.....................................................................................................................16
QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE TRAINERS.....................................................................................................................19

MAJOR FINDINGS..............................................................................................................................................24

CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................................................25

RECOMMENDATIONS........................................................................................................................................25

.........................................................................................................................................................................26

REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................................27

INDEX...............................................................................................................................................................29

NOTES...............................................................................................................................................................31

TABLE OF FIGURES
FIGURE 2.............................................................................................................................................................9

1|Page SADAIN RAFI AHMED

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LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

Dec 14th, 2009

Ms. Amber Raza
Teacher

PAF KIET

Dear Madam,

I am submitting the project report on “Impact of humor in training & development”. As
per your advice, the report includes all the material related to proposed topic.

I am grateful for your guidance and supervision without which this assignment could not
have been completed.

Sincerely,

Sadain Ahmed


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all I would thanks Almighty ALLAH who has guided me the way for a bright
future. I would like to acknowledge the help provided by our teacher to make this
project.

My teacher Ms AMBER RAZA who taught me from her vast expertise and guided
me in the final project that helped a lot in data collection and preparation of the
report. She was full of energy and willing to teach students the concepts with her
working and practical experience and examples.

At the last I would render great thanks to others who had directly or Indirectly
Cooperated with me throughout the period of my research.


ABSTRACT

Yet we have seen lot of work on the productivity and Organizational development, however
the linkage of humor with the organizational development and productivity is yet an
unexplored area in Pakistan. This concept of humor is specifically focuses on the corporate
trainings and how humor can be useful in training and development of the employees.

Through humor, it can be effective to train in various fields such as staffing,
communication, time management, managerial control, motivation, teamwork, strategic
managements and many more with the help of syndicated comic strips or creativity.

INTRODUCTION

Being a trainer, the main role is to communicate to individuals or groups, to motivate,
therefore, humor can certainly make your sessions more fun. It is a form of expression
intended to arouse amusement. Humor used carefully throughout your training session can
keep your clients interested. To use humor effectively, your materials need to be practiced and
perfected. The type of humor you use will depend on your speaking style, personality and
situation. You are looking for humor which you feel comfortable delivering and can be used
effectively in your training sessions. I believe that every trainer can use humor effectively, once
they find the type of humor that fits their speaking style. Once you have found a topic that
looks promising look for ways to make it appear spontaneous. Stay away from subjects related
to race, religion, sexual topics and as we get older, the elderly. This way you risk not only
offending your client but also remain professional.

Humor in your personal training sessions is extraordinary when trying to attract new clients. If a
potential client see’s you laughing and your client having fun, when the potential client has had
a stressful, dull, boring day at work, this could easily lead to a new client. Laughter is the best
medicine. The current study looks at the relationship of humor and training, whether it is
indeed as effective as the literature review highlights.

For this purpose a questionnaire will be used to collect data and analysis the perceptions of
trainers and trainees regarding the role of humor in training sessions and its overall
effectiveness.


LITERATURE REVIEW

HUMOR
Is there a difference in humor and telling jokes? Humor is a state or quality. Joke telling is
an action—only one of many actions by which you might express humor. In other words,
you can use humor beautifully and expertly without telling a single joke.

Joke telling is fine if you like doing it; it is emphatically not necessary for bringing humor
into your learning environment or anywhere else. Never tell a joke in your life, and you will
still be able to use humor effectively, appropriately, and without fear. Humor is openness,
optimism—a sort of yes-saying to life. Humor is creativity. Humor is, above all, play.

In this random experiment called Life, we are frequently required to:

1. Make decisions with insufficient data
2. Get the job done with inadequate tools
3. Accept less than 100 percent success

This means that if you’re a person who can’t live with imperfection, you are in for a rocky
ride. You have to be willing to accept—dare I say embrace?—a certain amount of
uncertainty. This takes creativity, a.k.a. humor, a.k.a. playfulness.

Look at it this way: If all you can think to do with, say, curtains is to hang them on curtain
rods, then what will you do when life hands you just the curtains? Or just the rods? In Gone
With the Wind, Scarlett O’Hara used a pair of curtains to make a sumptuous gown. That was
creative, a new connection; nobody had ever thought of using curtain fabric for clothes. (At
least not till the sixties. Say what you will, the sixties were a creative decade.)

Humor can be used surprisingly well to encourage critical as well as creative thinking;
people with well-developed minds tend to have a better-developed sense of humor.

Humor literature can be split into two broad categories: the first is concerned with the
individual level-- why individuals use humor--and the second focuses on the societal level--
the function humor has within a social setting or society. The majority of humor literature
falls within the individual category, focusing on individual motivations for the creation and
interpretation of humor. Within the individual category of humor research there are three
major humor theories: superiority theory, relief theory and incongruity theory (Berger,
1993; Berlyne, 1972; Burns & Burns, 1975; Chapman and Foot, 1976; Feinberg, 1978;
Meyer, 1998, 2000; Monro, 1951; Morreall, 1983; Raskin, 1985). The second category of


humor research focuses on humor’s function or impact in a social setting and casts humor
as dualistic in nature. As a result, if humor creates one aspect in society, it is assumed to
simultaneously create its opposite. This dualistic nature of contextual humor is termed the
paradox of humor. The sociological study of humor notes two sets of paradoxical humor
functions, identification and differentiation, as well as control and resistance.

Leadership charisma (Avolio, Howell, & Sosik, 1999) and flexibility (Gelkopf & Kreitler,
1996) can be enhanced with the cautious use of humor. It makes the job atmosphere
pleasant and vents stress that may otherwise turn into aggression (Decker,1987). However
humor is also associated with trivial or non-serious banter, it is a significant factor in the
construction of groups and the organizational culture.

A person can be found comical and therefore inferior, if he or she is inadequate according
to a set of agreed-upon group or societal criteria. Superiority humor is usually associated
with laughing at others’ inadequacies, but can also take the form of self-derision. The
aspect of superiority humor is one of the oldest themes in the analysis of humor. Both Plato
and Aristotle wrote about humor as a form of mockery or disdain, usually self-directed,
which should be kept at a minimum (Janco, 1984).

The conception of humor as an expression of superiority is usually traced to the writings of
Thomas Hobbes. Hobbes’ statement on humor published in On Nature has become the
primary touchstone of superiority humor. “The passion of laughter is nothing else but
sudden glory arising from sudden conception of some eminency in ourselves by
comparison with the infirmity of others, or with our own formerly” (As quoted in Berger,
1993, p. 2; Feinberg, 1978, p. 6; Gruner, 1978; pp. 29-30; Morreall, 1983, p.5;). The
superiority motivation of humor, as Rapp (1951) suggests, may take its origins in the
hostile gloating of a vanquished foe, but in its modern form is usually analogous to the
gentle criticism of a child as they unsuccessfully attempt an adult activity. Gruner (1978)
suggests that superiority humor helps to avoid aggression. Feinberg (1978) suggests that it
is aggression, but in a nonviolent and socially acceptable fashion. In principle, humor as an
expression of superiority can be either a mechanism of control and/or a form of resistance.

When a joke or laughter is used to reduce tension or stress, humor can be considered to
provide a relief function. A good example can be seen in using humor as a face saving
behavior in negotiation and mediation to reduce tension and increase trust between
parties (Goffman, 1955; Rogan & Hammer, 1994; Rubin, 1983). Spencer (1860) is credited
with providing the first reference to relief humor when he suggested that laughter was a
result of the physical energy which is built up to deal with disagreeable feelings. This
nervous energy overflows into nerves supplying the mouth and respiration system,
producing laughter (Haig, 1988). Spencer likened the relief effect to opening a safety valve
on a steam pipe (Morreall, 1983; Zijderveld, 1983). Darwin (1965) vindicated Spencer's
theory and suggested that laughter was similar to primate facial expressions which are
used to ease tension.

Spencer's work has had considerable influence on the conception of humor as “relief of
tension”, but the primary text in humor relief theory in modern analysis is Freud’s


(1905/1960) Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious. Freud viewed laughter as a
response to jokes and considered it of secondary importance to the jokes themselves.
Freud held that jokes were akin to dreams, because they allowed forbidden ideas from the
unconscious to surface. Freud also discussed the effects of laughter in less detail as a
response to social and comic influences in which he “modifies” Spencer’s (1860) notion of
nervous emotional discharge in humor with psychological emotional discharge through
humor. “We should say that laughter arises if a quota of psychical energy which has earlier
been used for the cathexis of particular psychical paths has become unusable, so it can find
free discharge” (Freud, 1905/1960, p.180).

According to Freud, relief humor has two properties. First, it has a healing quality, allowing
built-up tension and energy to be released: “Anyone who has allowed the truth to slip out
in an unguarded moment is in fact glad to be free of the pretense” (Freud, 1905/1960,
p.126). Second, humor is an act of disguised aggression and sanctioned resistance. “The
joke then represents a rebellion against that authority, a liberation from its pressure”
(p.125).

The incongruity conception of humor suggests that humor is a human reaction to
ambiguity within their environment. Following Bergson, Douglas (1975) suggests that all
humor is a juxtaposition of two unlike things within a situation. However, she expands
upon Bergson’s frame to suggest that humor is the way in which we deal with and
understand our complex environment. This idea that incongruity humor is a way in which
to interpret ambiguity has important implications for understanding the use of humor in
social organizations and as a communication phenomenon.

Bergson’s (1956) essay “Laughter” was a landmark for humor theory because it urged
researchers to study humor not only in the social context, but also to consider the
individuals who created it. Bergson, on a simple level, calls for a comprehensive view which
would combine the psychological, social, and (to some degree) the communicative
understanding of humor to be combined. What can be taken from Bergson is that
incongruity humor is situationally and relationally driven.

Plessner (1970) argues that laughing (or crying) is a response to a situation which is so
incongruous that we cannot interpret the humor in any other fashion. Plessner’s notions
build on those of Henri Bergson (1956) who suggested that humor is found in situations
which are not within the realm of usual interpretations: “A situation is invariably comic
when it belongs simultaneously to two altogether independent series of events and is
capable of being interpreted in two entirely different meanings at the same time” (p. 123).


TRAINING

Training cycle based on a human resource development plan

As economical competition increases, corporations are seeing the importance and value of training
employees. Training and development is a unique aspect of communication studies and
communication professionals are being specifically educated to conduct productive training
sessions. Many studies have examined andragogy, the study of adult learning, and discovered that
there are certain ways in which adults process and theorize information. Corporations are
attempting to determine successful ways to increase long-term retention of information gained in

Figure 1
2
training.

Training methods are constantly being analyzed to ensure that trainees are receiving and retaining
required information. Kaupins’ (1997) study required professional corporate trainers to evaluate a
variety of training methods. Such training methods include self-study programs, internships, role-
playing, and advanced technology (Kaupins, 1997). The study concluded that adults tend to prefer
self-direction, learning from real-life events, and application of learned material, with specific
results showing high regard for live cases and internships. Kaupins (1997) realizes that a large
variety of training methods are used among corporations today. However, the study found lectures
as having low ratings in relation to knowledge retention. In agreement with the conclusions of this
study, suggests that participative methods of training are most effective, as acting on information


allows it to be stored in the long-term memory. Participative training includes asking for audience
expectations and questions, reciting lessons, and giving feedback

Getting employees to think in new ways takes a lot of time and effort—and determination--from
management. The single greatest hindrance to the creative process is management itself.
Challenging assumptions and looking at information in new ways takes time and patience—not
things management typically has lots of. And although fostering creativity and teamwork is
basically easy, making it a priority is extremely hard. Without a major commitment by senior-level
management, new ideas are unlikely to surface. Every business's growth hinges on innovation.
Unfortunately, creativity--the activity that leads to innovation--is one of the first things to take a
back seat in a downsized environment. People aren't inherently less creative when they're working
hard; they simply have less time to indulge their creative energies. With this in mind, I offer four
ingredients for fostering the creative process: Make the time. Creativity can't be a hobby: It requires
serious attention. Management's role must be to force the time to let it happen. Designate one day a
month for the entire company to engage in some sort of creative activity, such as brainstorming
sessions. For example, tell your employees to scour the press for creative ideas in other industries.

The monthly "creative day" can then be used to identify the principles behind those creative
successes and to see how they might be applied to your own business. I have found that the very
best ideas for our industry often come from observing what works in other fields. We need not
reinvent the wheel. Pairing things that have seemingly little in common often leads to new
revelations. There are a dozen ways to use the day effectively--the key for managers is to provide
the structure to let employees take the time. People are not inherently motivated to structure
themselves in teams--it takes effort, organization and a willingness to be flexible. Make it fun.
Creativity can't be simply another office task. Take off the ties, the jackets, the high heels. Develop
entertaining procedures for engaging people in the process. The entire Times Mirror circulation
department recently spent a week thinking of ways to increase profitability by looking beyond the
traditional ways of cutting costs and increasing revenues. To get the creative juices flowing, the
department was divided into groups of eight people, and each group was assigned a certain task.
One group was sent to the grocery store to buy boxes of cereal that caught their attention, with the
idea that the cereal shelf is similar to a newsstand. When the group met and discussed their
decision-making processes, the results were related to how consumers buy at the newsstand, which
led to several new, very creative thoughts about magazine cover design.

Another group was told to purchase the most valuable item they could find (other than a magazine
subscription) for $10. The group discussed what they bought and what they found valuable in the
items they purchased. As a result of this exercise, a number of very creative copy platforms were
developed for direct mail. There were several other similar activities that were fun to do; as a
result, people became willingly engaged in the process. Make it everyone's job. Some of the very
best ideas can come from the people who sit quietly in their cubicles, typing away all day. You must
figure out a way to unlock creative thinking at all levels of your company. We have a program called
"Plant-a- Seed" that encourages employees to submit written ideas for improving the company.
Once a month, a group of managers evaluates the ideas and moves forward on those with potential.
Those ideas that are chosen are publicized, and the responsible individual receives a bonus.

Another approach is to include employees from all levels of the company in brainstorming sessions,
and to mix people from different departments. I find that those who are inexperienced or just
beginning their careers often have more open minds compared to those of us who have already
developed our perspectives and set our minds on a certain course of action. Naiveté can be the best
medicine for creative thinking. Make it happen. A serious hindrance to the creative process is a

10 | P a g e SADAIN RAFI AHMED

company's inability to execute good ideas. Lack of follow-through leads to skepticism and inertia
among employees. Nothing breeds success more than success itself. Set priorities, focus on two
ideas, make those happen--and people will begin to believe in the process. Reward people
financially and psychologically in a substantial way for the successful execution of a new idea.
Creativity can be learned, but it often requires training. But just as there are tools to train sales and
management staffs, there are many practical tools and proven methods for nurturing creativity. For
instance, several companies specialize in facilitating brainstorming sessions. Almost always, I find
that a third-party perspective fosters our ability to think outside the boundaries of business.
Synaptic, Inc., in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one company I have found particularly helpful. For
computer fans, there is the software program Idea Fisher. The computer helps you make unobvious
connections as you fill out an on-screen survey form. Times Mirror's marketing communications
department uses it regularly for creative tasks such as naming products and developing tag lines.

The best practical guide to idea-generating techniques that I have come across is Thinker toys: A
Handbook of Business Creativity for the 90's, by Michael Michalko, published by Ten Speed Press in
Berkeley, California. It's full of very specific, mind stretching exercises and many, many
inspirational examples of companies that have achieved incredible success through seemingly small
observations. For instance, Lenox China started the concept of bridal registries when the company
realized few people could afford to buy an entire set of china at once. These are a few of the tools.
More important, you must make fostering creativity a top priority for you and your staff. Although
creativity requires the same type of training that salespeople receive, in a downsized environment,
it's 10 times more important because people will not make the time to do it on their own. When we
most need to be on the cutting edge, we can ill afford to have the backbone of our business--new
ideas-- be an afterthought.

Armstrong (1999) created an experiential role-playing exercise aimed at teaching business
managers methods of decision making that complement traditional rational decision-making
processes. In the exercise, participants were split into groups of 8 to 10 and were given a raw
material that could be touched, passed around and molded. The groups were asked to come up with
as many possible product or service ideas for the raw material. One product idea was selected from
among the list in each group, and the group then had to design a product name and slogan, and
create a video advertisement for the class. Based on participant feedback, the role-playing exercise
"appears to be a powerful and useful learning experience."

Glenn-Ryan and Guss (1989) conducted a training program aimed at fostering initiative and
creativity in senior career civil servants in an effort to increase the level and quality of service
provided. An ultimate goal of the research was to gain a critical mass to move the organization in a
new direction. Seventy-five civil servant supervisors were exposed to a two-and-one-half day
management seminar. A snapshot of the organization was taken through the use of two surveys: a
management development survey and a client survey. The training consisted of eight main
components: creativity and vision; organization culture; assessment of current culture, leadership
style and stress conditions; small-group exercises; building small wins; setting a direction; and a
personality-type indicator. The study concluded that change is difficult when dealing with an
"antiquated infrastructure", and that substantial risk is involved when managers state their values
publicly.

Raudsepp (1987) proposed a list of twenty-four interventions to enhance organizational and
personal innovation and achievement, and to harness and focus employee's energies to achieve
innovative results. Among the interventions listed, of special note was the philosophy of providing a


safe atmosphere for failures. Business managers and psychologists were quoted to support the
interventions. Conclusions were not offered.
Business Management Week (2001) published on the World Wide Web a synopsis of a five-day
round table discussion on the role of creativity in UK business.
The discussions Global were built on the findings of Professor Amin Rajan's report,
"Harnessing creativity to improve the bottom line." Of note among the discussions were the
statements that business creativity was not a "luxury" to be harnessed only in prosperous times,
but was essential all the time; that there are suspicions of creativity in some organizations due to its
elusive nature; that creativity can best be harnessed by creating small teams within an organization
that are not over-controlled and that are connected within the company; and that creativity should
not be compartmentalized, but should be seen as a way of life for the entire organization. Umilker
(1988) presented a review of literature identifying the often-faddish nature of business
improvement theories, and gave six necessary characteristics of successful managers that want to
support organizational creativity. The six characteristics were: identify innovative employees;
foster an innovative environment; provide challenges; provide idea sources; and offer rewards.
Conclusions were not offered.

MANAGEMENT

Management in all business and human organization activity is simply the act of getting people
together to accomplish desired goals and objectives. Management comprises planning, organizing,
staffing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization (a group of one or more people or
entities) or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal. Resourcing encompasses the deployment
and manipulation of human resources, financial resources, technological resources, and natural
resources.

Management can also define as Directors and managers who have the power and responsibility to
make decisions to manage an enterprise. As a discipline, management comprises the interlocking
functions of formulating corporate policy and organizing, planning, controlling, and directing the
firm's resources to achieve the policy's objectives. The size of management can range from one
person in a small firm to hundreds or thousands of managers in multinational companies. In large
firms the board of directors formulates the policy which is implemented by the chief executive
officer.

Management operates through various functions, often classified as planning, organizing, leading/
motivating, and controlling.

• Planning: Deciding what needs to happen in the future (today, next week, next month,
next year, over the next 5 years, etc.) and generating plans for action.
• Organizing: (Implementation) making optimum use of the resources required to enable
the successful carrying out of plans.
• Staffing: Job analyzing, recruitment, and hiring individuals for appropriate jobs.
• Leading: Determining what needs to be done in a situation and getting people to do it.
• Controlling Monitoring: checking progress against plans, which may need
modification based on feedback.


• Motivating: the process of stimulating an individual to take action that will accomplish a
desired goal.

Imagine a world where managers always recognized and rewarded their most capable people. It
would be hard for a rational employee to leave a great job for a ten percent chance of creating
something even greater. But leaving a boss who is Satan's learning-challenged little brother is
relatively easy. And if the general economy isn't serving up wonderful job opportunities at other
companies (thanks in part to bad management) then you can see why people gravitate toward
starting their own companies.

One has to thank The Dilbert Principle for some of this entrepreneurial zest. The Dilbert Principle
observes that in the modern economy, the least capable people are promoted to management
because companies need their smartest people to do the useful work. It's hard to design software,
but relatively easy to run staff meetings. This creates a situation where you have more geniuses
reporting to morons than at any time in history. In that sort of environment you'd expect the
geniuses to be looking for a way out, even if Plan B has a low chance of success.

DILBERT PRINCIPLE:

“The most ineffective workers are systematically moved to the place where they can do the least
damage: management.” (Scott Adams)

Big companies with bad managers are the ideal breeding ground for entrepreneurs. Employees are
exposed to a wide variety of business disciplines, and can avail themselves of excellent company-
paid training and outside education. When you add broad skill development to the inevitability of
eventually getting a moron for a boss, thanks to frequent internal reorganizations, it's no wonder
that big companies spray entrepreneurs into the environment like the fountains at Bellagio.

METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH QUESTION
“What is the Impact of Humor in Training and Development?”

DATA COLLECTION
In order to explore the impact of humor in T&D, quantitative research method is used. The
quantitative approached were used. Questionnaire construction is used in this research because


they are a valuable method of collecting a wide range of information from a large number of
individuals, often referred to as respondents. Good questionnaire construction is critical to the
success of a survey. Inappropriate questions, incorrect ordering of questions, incorrect scaling, or
bad questionnaire format can make the survey valueless. A useful method for checking a
questionnaire and making sure it is accurately capturing the intended information is to pretest
among a smaller subset of target respondents

Based on Literature Survey, two sets of questionnaires were designed for the trainers from
different training institutions as well as for the trainees to explore the major impact of humor in
Training and Development.

Both close-ended as well as open-ended questions were used in questionnaires.

TRAINING INSTITUTIONS
Twenty five corporate trainers from nine best training institutions of Pakistan have been focused,
which has a designed management development programs specially tailored to meet the needs
of individual companies.

1. Pakistan Institution of Management

2. Center of Management Development

3. Octara

4. Narejo

5. Franklin Covey

6. Paramount Consulting

7. Learning Minds

8. Navitus

9. ICIL

Following are the areas of training and development:

1. General Management


2. Communication
3. Marketing Management
4. Operations Management
5. Quality Management
6. Financial Management
7. Economics
8. Human Resource Management
9. Project Management
10. Information Technology
11. Personal Effectiveness
12. First Line Supervision
13. One Day Seminars
14. World Class Competitiveness

TRAINEES
Participants were drawn more than 50 employees from different organizations in the field of
banking, oil refinery, media, fertilizers, etc

RESULTS


The respondents’ opinion on the impact of humor in T&D is very positive although few trainers
believe that humor creates a non serious playful environment that causes a clutter in the learning
process.

Following are the graphical representations of the respondents’ opinion that includes the trainers
and the trainees.

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE TRAINEES
1. The use of humor in trainings is

A) not effective

B) effective

C) very effective

80% of the trainees believe
humor is effective and 20%
consider it to be very effective
tool in corporate trainings.

Figure 4
3


2. Does humor reduce
mental and physical
stress?

A) Yes

B) Middle

C) No

Figure 5

90% of the trainees believe humor reduce stress in trainings while 10% believe it may not be the
specific tool to decrease the stress of the employees in the training.

3. Can humor in training
sessions, keep you
focused?

A) Yes

B) Middle

C) No

Figure 6
80% of the respondents
consider humor as a source of paying attention toward learning rest 20% believe it may help to
gain attention.


4. The use of race, religion
and sexual topics as
humorous act can make
the training

A) not effective

B) effective

C) very effective
Figure 7

90% of trainees believes race, religious and sexual jokes can cause offensiveness environment and
10% consider is to be effective.

5. Do you think humor helps
in the learning process
A) Yes

B) Middle

C) No

Figure 8 90% of respondents believe
humor helps in the learning process, and 10% consider it t be a possibility.


6. Is humor an effective tool
for increasing divergent
thinking?

1. Yes

2. Middle

Figure 9 3. No

50% believe it can be a good tool to
increase divergent thinking, 30%
declared it to be a perfect tool and
rest 20% think humor isn’t the
perfect tool for increasing divergent
thinking.

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE
TRAINERS

1. The use of humor in trainings is
Figure 10
A) not effective

B) effective

C) very effective

60% of the trainers believe humor is a very effective tool, 20% state it’s not effective and the rest
20% respond it to be just effective.


2. Does humor reduce mental and
physical stress of a trainee?

D) Yes

E) Middle

F) No

60% of the trainers believe it does
reduce stress, rest argue humor might
be a good tool to reduce mental and
physical stress of the trainee.
Figure 11

3. Is there a difference b/w
Humor and telling jokes?

A) Yes

B) Middle

C) No

70% trainers know the difference b/
w two and 30% is judging it to be
same.

Figure 12

4. Can humor in training
sessions, keep your clients
focused?

D) Yes

E) Middle


Figure 13

F) No

60% of the trainers argue that humor in
training sessions keep the trainees focused,
while 40% are not in a favor.

5. Material need to be practiced and
perfected to use humor is

A) Not Important

B) Important

C) Very Important

70% believe material must be practiced
before presenting humor, while 10% say
it’s an important move toward humor
Figure 14
and the rest 20% disagree.

6. The use of race, religion and
sexual topics as humorous act
can make the training

D) not effective

E) effective

F) very effective

Figure 15 100% trainers agree that race, religious
and sexual topic can upset trainee by any mean.

7. To attract new clients, humor can be?

A) Not helpful


B) Little helpful

C) Helpful

D) Very helpful

40% of the trainer believe humor may help to attract new clients, while 30% say it’s a helpful tool,
25% believe is very effective tool, while 5% judge it to be not helpful.

Figure 16

8. Can Humor be offensive to some audience?

A) Yes

B) Middle

C) No

After understanding b/w humor and joke
telling, 60% of the trainers believe humor
cannot be offensive to audience, and 40%
believe it will.

Figure 17


Figure 18

Figure 19

9. Do you think humor helps in
learning
D) Yes

E) Middle

F) No

60% of the trainers believe, humor really
help in learning process, while 40% think
it may help.

10. How important is it to know your client, to use humor?

A) Not important

B) Important

C) Very important

50% responded it to be just important, 20% say it’s a very important and rest 20% say it’s not
important to know you client to use humor.

11. Is humor an effective tool for increasing divergent thinking?

1 Yes


2 Middle

3 No
Figure 20

50% believe humor is an effective tool
increasing divergent thinking, while rest
believe it may be a good tool.

MAJOR FINDINGS

There’s a different b/w humor and telling jokes, you can use humor beautifully and expertly
without telling a single joke, while there’s a chance that joke telling can demolish the creativity of
the training. Respondents believe that telling jokes can create offensive environment in the training
session.


More than 60% of the trainers and trainee believe that humor is the efficient tool that can be used
in trainings to reduce stress, keep the clients focused, help attract new clients, helps in learning
process and increase divergent thinking, which will result in productivity,

CONCLUSION

The study concludes that humor is a powerful tool for helping individuals with better understand
and handle real-world situations, as well as a way for the people in their lives to better understand
them. We chose to emphasize humor as our training medium because a large no. of respondents
suggested to us that humor would enhance the process of learning: humor adds a positive
emotional valence to the presentation, it makes the session more interesting, it makes the session
non-threatening, and it requires the use of multiple components of the brain to process it.

RECOMMENDATIONS

A Creative training practice that could bring humor in the corporate trainings

Training Practice: Always acknowledge the “BOMB”

This rule is based on a fact that as a born creative genius, most of the ideas will stink. Put in a stand-
up comic’s terms, you will “bomb.” By bomb, it means a humorous “ad lib” which is made up in


advance. Bombing, and then humorously acknowledging your bomb, can give your listeners three
wonderful gifts:

1 Freedom from having to feel embarrassed for you.

2 Renewed respect for your competence and confidence.(After all, you were smart enough to
know that you just bombed, and confident enough to put it into perspective.)

3 Reassurance that they themselves might bomb in front of you without fear of ridicule.
(Note: This one is no small gift!)

To sum it up, far from harming the credibility, a nice little bomb can actually increase rapport and
trust between you and your listeners.

A brainstorming...................................................................10
C
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.........................................................4
Albany...............................................................................29 Cambridge........................................................................11
Aristotle........................................................................7, 29 Cognitive...........................................................................28
B comic strips.........................................................................5
Communication..........................................................15, 29
Berkeley......................................................................11, 29 competence......................................................................26


CONCLUSION....................................................................25 Leading.............................................................................12
confidence........................................................................26 LITERATURE REVIEW...........................................................6
controlling........................................................................12 M
Controlling........................................................................12
corporate policy................................................................12 MAJOR FINDINGS..............................................................24
creative thinking...........................................................6, 10 management.......................................10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 28
creativity............................................5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 24, 28 Management.............................................10, 12, 14, 15, 28
D METHODOLOGY................................................................13
Motivating........................................................................13
DATA COLLECTION............................................................13 O
Dilbert Principle................................................................13
divergent thinking...........................................19, 23, 24, 25 organizations...........................................................8, 12, 15
E organizing.........................................................................12
Organizing.........................................................................12
Economics.........................................................................15 P
employees...............................................5, 9, 10, 12, 15, 17
F planning............................................................................12
Planning............................................................................12
Freud...............................................................................7, 8 Psychotherapy..................................................................28
G Q

Gruner..........................................................................7, 28 QUESTIONNAIRE.........................................................16, 19
H R

human resource development plan....................................9 RECOMMENDATIONS.......................................................25
humor.3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, REFERENCES......................................................................27
25, 28, 29 respondents’.....................................................................16
Humor...............................................................................26 RESULTS............................................................................15
I role-playing...................................................................9, 11
S
ideas..................................................................8, 10, 11, 25
Impact of humor in training & development......................3 satisfaction.......................................................................28
initiative............................................................................11 staffing..........................................................................5, 12
J Staffing.............................................................................12
strategic managements......................................................5
joke............................................................6, 7, 8, 22, 24, 28 stress...........................................................7, 11, 17, 20, 25
K survey.........................................................................11, 14
T
Kaupins...............................................................................9
L teamwork.....................................................................5, 10
theories.........................................................................6, 12
laughter...............................................................7, 8, 28, 29 time management..............................................................5
Laughter....................................................................5, 8, 28 trainees..............................................5, 9, 14, 16, 17, 18, 21
Leadership..........................................................................7 Training.............................................................9, 13, 14, 25

REFERENCES

Avolio, B. J., Howell, J. M., & Sosik, J. J. (1999). A funny thing happened on the way to the


bottom line: Humor as a moderator of leadership style effects. Academy of Management

Journal, 42(2), 219-227

Begley, T., & Boyd, D. (2000). Articulating corporate values through human resource

policies. Business Horizons, 43, 8-13.

Berger, A. (1993). An anatomy of humor. New Brunswick, NJ :Transaction Publishers.

Bergson, H. (1956). Laughter. In W. Sypher (Ed.), Comedy, (pp. 61-190). Baltimore,

MD: Johns Hopkins Press.

Burns, T. & Burns, I. (1975). Doing the wash: An expressive culture and personality study of

a joke and its tellers. Norwood, PA: Norwood Edition.

Chapman, A. & Foot, H. (1976). It’s a funny thing humour. Oxford: Pergamon Press.

Consalvo, C. M. (1989). Humor in management: No laughing matter. Humor: International

Journal of Humor Research, 2, 285-297

Decker, W. H. (1987). Managerial humor and subordinate satisfaction. Social Behaviour and

Personality, 15, 225-232.

Duncan, W. J., Smeltzer, L. R., & Leap, T. L. (1990). Humor and work: Applications of

joking behavior to management. Journal of Management, 16, (2), 255–278.

Eisenberg, E. M. & Goodall, H. L. (1997). Organizational communication: Balancing

creativity and constraint. (2nd ed.). New York: St. Martin’s Press.

Feinberg, L. (1978). The secret of humor. Amsterdam: Rodopi.

Gelkopf, M., & Kreitler, S. (1996). Is humor only fun, an alternative cure or magic:
The cognitive therapeutic potential of humor. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 10(4),
235- 254.

Goffman, E. (1955). On face work. Psychiatry, 18, 213-231.

Gruner, C. (1978). Understanding laughter: The workings of wit and humor. Chicago:
Nelson-Hall.

Hobbes, Thomas. Human Nature in English Works, vol. 4, ed. Molesworth (London: Bohn,

1840).


Janco, R. (1984). Aristotle on comedy. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Lyttle, Jim. http://www.doctorlyttle.com/Dissert/

Meyer, J. (1998, April). Humor as communication’s unifying and dividing tool.

Paper presented at the Southern States Communication Association Annual Convention, San

Antonio, TX.

Meyer, J. (2000) Humor as a double-edged sword: Four functions of humor in

communication. Communication Theory, 10, 310-331.

Monro D. H. (1951). Argument of humor. Melbourne, Australia: Melbourne University Press.

Morreall, J. (1983). Taking laughter seriously. Albany, NY: State University of New York

Press.

Norrick, N. R. (1993). Conversational joking: Humor in everyday talk. Bloomington, IN:

Indiana University Press.

Plessner, H. (1970). Laughing and crying. J. Churchill & M. Greene (Trans.). Evanston:

Northwestern University Press.

Rapp, A. (1951). The origin of wit and humor. New York: E. P. Dutton.

Raskin, V. (1985). Semantic mechanisms of humor. Boston: Reidel.

INDEX

A B

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.........................................................4 Berkeley......................................................................11, 29
Albany...............................................................................29 brainstorming...................................................................10
Aristotle........................................................................7, 29 C


Cambridge........................................................................11 laughter...............................................................7, 8, 28, 29
Cognitive...........................................................................28 Laughter....................................................................5, 8, 28
comic strips.........................................................................5 Leadership..........................................................................7
Communication..........................................................15, 29 Leading.............................................................................12
competence......................................................................26 LITERATURE REVIEW...........................................................6
CONCLUSION....................................................................25 M
confidence........................................................................26
controlling........................................................................12 MAJOR FINDINGS..............................................................24
Controlling........................................................................12 management.......................................10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 28
corporate policy................................................................12 Management.............................................10, 12, 14, 15, 28
creative thinking...........................................................6, 10 METHODOLOGY................................................................13
creativity............................................5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 24, 28 Motivating........................................................................13
D O

DATA COLLECTION............................................................13 organizations...........................................................8, 12, 15
Dilbert Principle................................................................13 organizing.........................................................................12
divergent thinking...........................................19, 23, 24, 25 Organizing.........................................................................12
E P

Economics.........................................................................15 planning............................................................................12
employees...............................................5, 9, 10, 12, 15, 17 Planning............................................................................12
F Psychotherapy..................................................................28
Q
Freud...............................................................................7, 8
G QUESTIONNAIRE.........................................................16, 19
R
Gruner..........................................................................7, 28
H RECOMMENDATIONS.......................................................25
REFERENCES......................................................................27
human resource development plan....................................9 respondents’.....................................................................16
humor.3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, RESULTS............................................................................15
25, 28, 29 role-playing...................................................................9, 11
Humor...............................................................................26 S
I
satisfaction.......................................................................28
ideas..................................................................8, 10, 11, 25 staffing..........................................................................5, 12
Impact of humor in training & development......................3 Staffing.............................................................................12
initiative............................................................................11 strategic managements......................................................5
J stress...........................................................7, 11, 17, 20, 25
survey.........................................................................11, 14
joke............................................................6, 7, 8, 22, 24, 28 T
K
teamwork.....................................................................5, 10
Kaupins...............................................................................9 theories.........................................................................6, 12
L time management..............................................................5
trainees..............................................5, 9, 14, 16, 17, 18, 21
Training.............................................................9, 13, 14, 25


NOTES


The Use of Humor to Teach Management FYP

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