Humour and Leadership Discourse in Different Workplace Cultures

Abstract

Humour is one of a number of discourse strategies which is used by organizational leaders in workplace interaction, and which is particularly interesting and under-researched. Motivated by earlier leadership and organisational research which identified communication as a crucial but largely ignored aspect of leadership performance, this thesis conducts a series of case studies with the aim of addressing this shortcoming. As one aspect of workplace communication, humour is very important because it has the potential to assist leaders in the achievement of their various objectives: it enables individuals not only to "do leadership" but also to portray themselves as competent and "effective" leaders in the context of their working environment. This exploratory study is based on more than 40 hours of spoken data (including one-to-one interactions as well as large meetings), supplemented by interviews, participant observation and consultation of organisational documents. A social constructionist stance is taken and the community of practice framework is employed in order to examine the ways in which six leaders from three New Zealand IT organisations utilise the socio-pragmatic device of humour to construct themselves as a certain type of leader in a range of situations. The analysis provides an overview of the numerous ways in which the participating leaders make use of humour to perform their various leadership objectives and to portray themselves in distinctive ways. The analysis suggests that all six leaders employ humour to perform similar functions. However, differences are identified with regard to the type of humour and the style of delivery. The factors which help to account for these variances include the role of the leaders' working groups, the culture of the leaders' organisations, and the concept of gendered discourse. The leaders' performances (as indicated in their use of humour) are influenced by and influence both the discursive norms developed in their immediate working groups, and the culture of the organisation in which they operate. By employing discursive styles in ways that are considered appropriate in their respective communities of practice, the leaders reinforce these practices and thereby actively participate in the constant development of these norms. In addition, the analysis shows that the culture of the leaders' organisations has a significant impact on their performance. Not only is the notion of what constitutes "effective" and appropriate leadership behaviour embedded in the organisational context in which it appears, but through their discursive performance, and in particular their use of humour, the leaders constantly enact and thereby shape and modify aspects of their organisation's culture. Moreover, an investigation of the ways in which the leaders make us of humour to balance the sometimes conflicting demands of their professional and their gender identities provides further support for the assumption that "doing leadership" and "doing gender" are interrelated processes. The analysis suggests that relational aspects of leadership behaviour are associated with stereotypically feminine discursive strategies, while more transactionally oriented behaviours are perceived as normatively masculine. However, it is argued that the relative appropriateness of these gendered styles with respect to the performance of leadership is not universal, but depends on the culture of the leaders' organisations as well as the norms developed in their working groups. Findings from this research illustrate the substantial role that communication plays in relation to the performance of leadership as well as the contribution of communicative style to the ways in which leadership is perceived and understood, with interesting implications for leadership theories. Moreover, insights gained from the linguistic analysis of the data are potentially significant to discussions of the definition of humour, and the notion of ambiguity as an inherent characteristic feature of all types of humour. The research also draws attention to the importance of considering the style of delivery as well as the type of humour in any analyses of this highly complex discursive strategy.