21 Apr 2016

The light and shade of workplace humour

From Afternoons, 1:25 pm on 21 April 2016

Humour in the workplace can create harmony, pleasure and happiness – but it also has the potential to incite dissension and chaos.

Toilet paper in office

Toilet paper in office Photo: Flickr user @kevinv033 / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Barbara Plester has spent 12 years researching how we use humour at work. She talks with Jesse Mulligan about how it can be used to include, to marginalise, support, to take down and to reinforce or subvert power.

Dr Barbara Plester is a senior lecturer at Auckland University's Business School. Her new book is called The Complexity of Workplace Humour: Laughter, Jokers, and the Dark Side of Humour.