Managing with humour during COVID 19: Managers’ humour style and its influence on team members’ stress and job satisfaction using non-hierarchical cluster analysis

Authors

  • Sneha S Kairanna
  • Sumathi Annamalai
  • Jagrat Gada

Keywords:

Managerial humour, humour, cluster analysis, team, team engagement

Abstract

This research paper focuses on exploring the usage of humour by the managers while connecting with their teams. The objective is to study which humour style is effective in reducing the stress level and increasing the job satisfaction level of the team members using K- means cluster analysis. 120 team members evaluated their manager’s humour. K- means cluster analysis reported specific humour clusters. The results confirm that affiliative humour and self-enhancing humour decreases the stress level of the team members and increases the job satisfaction. The findings suggest that managers who apply self-defeating and aggressive humour are most likely to damage the manager and team member’s relationship. It is also observed that usage of negative humour is most likely to be causing strain than not using humour at all, while interacting. This study helps managers to identify the most effective humour styles to be adopted, while engaging with their teams.

References

Cohen, S., Kamarck, T. and Mermelstein, R. (1983) A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of health and social behavior, 24(4) pp 385-396.

Davis, A. and Kleiner, B. (1989) The value of humour in effective leadership. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 10(1) pp 1-3.

Dixon, N. (1980) Humour: A cognitive alternative to stress? In I. Sarason and C. Spielberger (eds.) Stress and Anxiety. Hemisphere Publishing Corporation, Washington. 281–289.

Evans, T., Goodman, S. and Jowett, A. (2014) The big fat (hetero) sexist quiz of the year. Paper presented at the British Psychological Society Psychology of Women Section Annual Conference, Windsor, England.

Evans, T. and Steptoe-Warren, G. (2018) Humor style clusters: Exploring managerial humor. International journal of business communication, 55(4) pp 443-454.

Fabrizi, M. and Pollio, H. (1987) A naturalistic study of humorous activity in a third, seventh, and eleventh grade classroom. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 33, pp 107–128.

Galloway, G. (2010) Individual differences in personal humour styles: Identification of prominent patterns and their associates. Personality and Individual Differences, 48 pp 563- 567.

Hodson, G., Rush, J. and MacInnis, C. (2010) A joke is just a joke (except when it isn’t): Cavalier humour beliefs facilitate the expression of group dominance motives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99, pp 660-682.

Janes, L. and Olson, J. (2000) Jeer pressure: The behavioral effects of observing ridicule of others. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, pp 474–485.

Kuiper, N., Martin, R. and Olinger, L. (1993) Coping humour, stress, and cognitive appraisals. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 25 pp 81–96.

Kubie, L. (1971) The destructive potential of humour in psychotherapy. American Journal of Psychiatry, 127 pp 37–42.

Lefcourt, H. (2001) Humour: The psychology of living buoyantly. Kluwer Academic Publishers, New York.

Lefcourt, H. (2002) Humor. In C. Snyder and S. Lopez (eds.) Handbook of positive psychology. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 619-631.

Lefcourt, H., Davidson, K., Shepherd, R., Phillips, M., Prkachin, K. and Mills, D. (1995) Perspective taking humour: Accounting for stress moderation. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 14, pp 373–391.

Leist, A. and Müller, D. (2013) Humor types show different patterns of self-regulation, self- esteem, and well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 14(2) pp 551-569.

Lizote, S., Verdinelli, M. and Nascimento, S. (2017) Organizational commitment and job satisfaction: a study with municipal civil servants. Revista de Administração Pública, 51, pp 947-967.

Martin, R., Puhlik-Doris, P., Larsen, G., Gray, J. and Weir, K. (2003) Individual differences in uses of humour and their relation to psychological well-being: Development of the Humour Styles Questionnaire. Journal of Research in Personality, 37, pp 48-75.

Martin, R. (1996) The Situational Humour Response Questionnaire (SHRQ) and Coping Humour Scale (CHS): A decade of research findings. Humour: International Journal of Humour Research, 9 pp 251–272.

Martin, R., Kuiper, N., Olinger, L. and Dance, K. (1993) Humour, coping with stress, self- concept, and psychological well-being. Humour: International Journal of Humour Research, 6 pp 89–104.

Martin, R. and Lefcourt, H. (1983) Sense of humour as a moderator of the relation between stressors and moods. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45 pp 1313–1324.

Martin, R. (2002) Is Laughter the Best Medicine? Humor, Laughter, and Physical Health. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11(6) pp 216-220.

Martin, R. (2003) Sense of humor. In S. Lopez and C. Snyder (eds.) Handbook of positive psychological assessment. American Psychological Association, Washington. 1-20.

Schat, A., Kelloway, E. and Desmarais, S. (2005) The Physical Health Questionnaire (PHQ): Construct Validation of a Self-Report Scale of Somatic Symptoms. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 10(4) pp 363–381.

Stieger, S., Formann, A. and Burger, C. (2011) Humour styles and their relationship to explicit and implicit self-esteem. Personality and Individual Differences, 50 pp 747-750.

Svebak, S. (2010) The Sense of Humor Questionnaire: Conceptualization and review of 40 years of findings in empirical research. Europe’s Journal of Psychology, 3 pp 288-310.

Vaillant, G. (1977) Adaptation to life. Little, Brown and Company, Boston.

Wright, T. and Cropanzano, R. (1998) Emotional exhaustion as a predictor of job performance and voluntary turnover. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83(3) pp 486-496.

Downloads

Published

2022-12-31

How to Cite

Kairanna, S. S. ., Annamalai, S. ., & Gada, J. . (2022). Managing with humour during COVID 19: Managers’ humour style and its influence on team members’ stress and job satisfaction using non-hierarchical cluster analysis. The Journal of Contemporary Issues in Business and Government, 28(4), 1454–1469. Retrieved from https://cibgp.com/au/index.php/1323-6903/article/view/2681