Humor within organizations

    Imagining how humor plays out in organizations can be tough for most people since they mostly expect organizations to be professional and serious environments. Humor, however, can practically show up in any place. In organizations specifically it can show up among a full organization level of many people, among fewer people like those in groups and departments, and even among fewer employees like those that are friends. When showing up in organizations humor can, like in other places, be both a good and a bad thing depending on how it shows up, but it can also make the overall environment of organizations more fun.

    How humor shows up in an organization can actually be seen in the clip below from the movie After We Collided. In this clip it can first be seen that a character named Tessa is running into a building. After entering the building, she tries to catch the elevator by asking another character named Trevor who happens to work in that building to hold it for her, but the elevator shuts right in her face. Once this happens Tessa angrily spits out a phrase that some would immediately find offensive. Trevor, however, decides to see her phrase in a humorous way because he ends up opening up the elevator for her and then with a smile on his face asks her if the phrase she said was directed at him. When confronted Tessa first tries to avoid answering him and then she tries to use humor because she smiles while denying that she had said the phrase to him. Eventually after a brief moment of tension between the two Tessa decides to apologize and explains that she just wanted to make a good impression because it was her first day in the building. Once she explains this Trevor uses humor in a serious tone to tell her that she had achieved her goal. After this they both get out of the elevator and a character named Kimberly approaches Tessa to welcome her into the building, which is a publishing firm. When welcoming her she tells Tessa that she is impressed by her good memory and Trevor jokingly says that Tessa is indeed good at making an impression. Right when Kimberly hears Trevor say this, she assumes that Tessa and Trevor know each other, so she asks them if they do. Finally, after Kimberly asks this Trevor again uses humor because he jokingly says that he and Tessa are friends who go way back.

    All in all, the clip evidently shows that humor can surely emerge in organization settings. It even shows that humor in these settings does not always have to surface among the already existing employees of an organization but rather that it can also surface when newer employees enter an organization. Something to thoroughly consider though is that people in organizations might not always see things as humorously as Trevor did in the clip since they might get angry or upset.

The impacts that teasing has on relationships

    Teasing is a thing that people widely use in life. Children at their young age for instance use it since they tend to tease other children and get teased themselves. People of all ages, however, use teasing throughout the various relationships in their lives. Teasing though common can have both positive and negative impacts on relationships. The impacts of teasing on relationships are what I will be teaching in this blog post. First, I will discuss some positive impacts, then some negative impacts, and ultimately an example of how teasing impacts a relationship.

    One positive impact of teasing on relationships is that it can improve them by helping them feel fun or playful and by making them seem secure (Meyer, 2015). This impact means that teasing can make people's relationships a lot better by creating an atmosphere in them that can be perceived as enjoyable and comfortable. Along with making relationships seem more secure teasing is also said to make relationships feel more liberating for people since it allows them to communicate in a way that is not too limited or judgy (Meyer, 2015). This means that teasing can additionally impact relationships positively by allowing the people in them to communicate more openly. Another positive impact of teasing on relationships though is that it can help people show others that they want their relationship to become closer (Meyer, 2015). This ultimately means that teasing can be positive for relationships by signaling the need for closeness between the people in them.

    Teasing, however, can also negatively impact relationships since it is generally associated with the enforcement and differentiation functions of humor that drive people apart (Meyer, 2015). What this means is that teasing can be negative for relationships by isolating people from one another. Teasing can additionally be negative for relationships since some people may interpret it as a personal attack that can then put their relationships at risk (Meyer, 2015). This plainly means that when people assign a negative meaning to teasing their relationships can be up against some potential harm. Aside from this teasing can also negatively impact relationships when it is overly used since it can harm an individual by questioning or putting down their identity, which can then make it difficult for their relationships to persist (Meyer, 2015). This at last means that when teasing is done to a great extent it can upset people and as such make it complicated for them to push forward with their relationships.

    Something that exemplifies an impact of teasing on relationships is the impact that me and my mother's relationship faces when she teases me about being angry. Every time I get angry my mother teases me by making fun of my furrowed eyebrows. In our mother daughter relationship, her use of teasing has a positive impact since it prevents my anger from making our relationship serious and instead allows me to see that our relationship can in all be playful even when I am angry.

References

Meyer, J. C. (2015). Understanding Humor Through Communication: Why Be Funny, Anyway?. Lexington Books.

The use of humor in conflict

    Conflict is something that people in all types of relationships frequently come across on a daily basis. When they are faced with it, they tend to manage it in a wide variety of ways. Some ways may of course be more effective than others depending on the conflict, the type of relationship, and the people involved in it. One way that people manage conflict is by using humor. Humor when used during conflicts can commonly be seen as something that can help to reduce the strength of a conflict since it might help the people involved feel better and it might additionally be a helpful way to get people to see a different side of things.

    To see how humor can be used to manage conflict I have included a clip below from the movie Purple Hearts. The clip at the start displays two characters named Luke and Cassie. Luke in the beginning was practicing how to walk given that he had recently suffered an injury, while Cassie was waiting for him to finish. As she waits for him, she compliments him for doing a lot better and at this point Luke seems like he is in a good mood. His mood, however, soon shifts when they are joined by his brother Jacob since he finds out that Cassie and Jacob got a dog for him without consulting him. The shift in his mood further gives rise to a conflict since he sternly tells them that he does not need them to sneakily plan things behind his back. When telling them this his voice gets serious and comes off as aggressive, which then makes Cassie get serious and additionally pushes her to aggressively give Luke the dog's leash. Once Luke takes the leash, he refers to himself as a cripple, angrily throws the leash, and firmly states that he is capable of making his own choices. After this Cassie tries to prevent the conflict from escalating further by using humor to jokingly say that people do not say the word cripple anymore and by trying to convince Luke that it is okay to get help. However, she also uses humor once the dog fetches the leash that Luke threw since she tells Luke that even the dog understands that it is okay to get help. Then once Luke surrenders and decides to keep the dog Cassie and Jacob both end up using humor by laughing about successfully convincing him to keep it.

    Upon further consideration the clip in all shows how people can manage conflict with humor. The clip more specifically shows the beneficial side of integrating humor into a conflict since it shows how humor can lighten up an overall conflict situation. One, however, should be cautious when using humor during such tense situations since the situations could potentially get worse.