The Use of Humor in Employee-to-Employee Workplace Communication: A Systematic Review With Thematic Synthesis

The aim of this systematic review was to develop a thematic synthesis of existing qualitative studies to explore the use of humor in employee-to-employee workplace communication and provide a greater understanding of this area of research through the experiences of employees. A number of databases were searched using key terms and papers were selected using pre-specified criteria. The thematic synthesis approach of Thomas and Harden was used to review the final 23 papers. The findings from the thematic synthesis resulted in four temporal themes that described how humor was utilized during an employee’s organizational transition: (1) initiation into organizational humor, (2) joining a “tribe”—in-groups and out-groups, (3) exerting influence—humor as power, and (4) using the safety valve—humor to relieve tension. The temporal themes described in this study crossed organizational and cultural divides, where humor formed an essential part of work-based dialog.

The work is the talk: Collaboration and power in tertiary language advisory practice

The field of workplace communication has grown in the past 20 years to encompass the negotiation of identities and the role of power in collaboration. Nonetheless, identity struggles at work remain an underexplored phenomenon, particularly for emerging or marginalised professional groups such as tertiary language and learning advisors (TLAs) in higher education. In this article, we explore how challenges encountered in collaboration between TLAs and content specialist academics (CSs) in an Australian tertiary setting can impact the negotiation of professional identities as well as the success of the work. We draw on transcripts of meeting talk from two novice TLAs as they negotiate collaborative work with one CS in a postgraduate subject, and we use critical discourse analysis to demonstrate how power discursively manifests in the meetings. The study sheds new light on the complexities of collaborative work, manifested through interactions, in hierarchical professional environments.

Towards a CEFR Framework for Workplace Communication: Students’ Perceptions of the Sub-Skills, Use and Importance of Language Productive Skills (LPS)

The ever-changing demands of the workforce due to current trends have led to the need for universities to equip their graduates with the necessary soft skills to increase their employability. As a result, the implementation of CEFR in language curricula was emphasised to address this matter. However, research on how CEFR could be implemented into a university''s workplace communication course is severely lacking. Moreover, there is room to further enhance existing CEFR frameworks for workplace communication. Thus, this preliminary study was conducted to investigate students’ perceptions of the use and importance of language productive skills (LPS) at the workplace towards developing a CEFR framework for workplace communication. The study adopted the quantitative approach through questionnaires to gauge students’ perceptions of the use and importance of LPS at the workplace. A total of 354 students from various faculties under the clusters of science and technology, business and management, and social sciences and humanities participated in the study. The responses were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The study’s findings show that, generally, students’ perceptions regarding the use and importance of speaking skills in the workplace are congruent to the CEFR scale for formal discussions. However, the use and importance of writing skills do not match the current available scale under CEFR to cater to workplace communication. Thus, future research calls for curriculum developers to identify relevant descriptors needed for written workplace communication.

"Was That My Misunderstanding?": Managing Miscommunication and Problematic Talk at Work

<p>Where workplace communication is ineffective or problematic there will often be negative outcomes for individuals, teams or organisations as a whole. This thesis examines these issues using data from a variety of New Zealand workplaces, including most importantly an in depth case study of problematic communication in a multicultural factory team. The thesis provides an illustrative analysis of the communication issues that typically arise in these workplaces and the discursive strategies used to manage miscommunication and problematic talk, as well as exploring some of the analytic and theoretical issues which emerge when we attempt to identify instances of miscommunication and diagnose how they came about. The practical implications for workplaces are also discussed. After evaluating previous approaches, the author proposes a comprehensive working model for analysing miscommunication or problematic discourse in workplace interaction which is based on a flexible multi-layered theoretical and methodological framework. The analytic approach taken is to apply the tools of sociolinguistic discourse analysis to data from actual interactions along with associated ethnographic information, in conjunction with a critical analysis of organisational communication practices and processes as seen from a community of practice perspective. A multi-dimensional intertextual approach such as this allows analysis of miscommunication and problematic talk at a number of different levels in order to relate what is happening sequentially and 'on-line' during particular interactions or sequences of interaction to factors such as social identity, group membership, team culture and other aspects of the wider communicative and socio-cultural context.</p>

"Was That My Misunderstanding?": Managing Miscommunication and Problematic Talk at Work

<p>Where workplace communication is ineffective or problematic there will often be negative outcomes for individuals, teams or organisations as a whole. This thesis examines these issues using data from a variety of New Zealand workplaces, including most importantly an in depth case study of problematic communication in a multicultural factory team. The thesis provides an illustrative analysis of the communication issues that typically arise in these workplaces and the discursive strategies used to manage miscommunication and problematic talk, as well as exploring some of the analytic and theoretical issues which emerge when we attempt to identify instances of miscommunication and diagnose how they came about. The practical implications for workplaces are also discussed. After evaluating previous approaches, the author proposes a comprehensive working model for analysing miscommunication or problematic discourse in workplace interaction which is based on a flexible multi-layered theoretical and methodological framework. The analytic approach taken is to apply the tools of sociolinguistic discourse analysis to data from actual interactions along with associated ethnographic information, in conjunction with a critical analysis of organisational communication practices and processes as seen from a community of practice perspective. A multi-dimensional intertextual approach such as this allows analysis of miscommunication and problematic talk at a number of different levels in order to relate what is happening sequentially and 'on-line' during particular interactions or sequences of interaction to factors such as social identity, group membership, team culture and other aspects of the wider communicative and socio-cultural context.</p>

A Study on Gender Differences in Workplace Communication across Organizations

Communication is an important aspect of human existence. It has a huge impact on the functioning of any organization. Organizations progress if there is close and greater coordination among both genders. The present study was conducted at Bhubaneswar, the capital city of Odisha. Socio-academic data on 120 employees of three different types of organizations, viz. Government, NGO and Corporate, taken at random were included in the present study. This is an empirical study on gender differences and their effect on workplace communication in various organizations. The objectives of this study are to find out the gender differences in communication in different workplaces and analyze the effects of socio-academic factors like age, qualification and experience on gender-related communication. The study findings depict qualification and gender was found to be dependent across the organizations with ?2 estimate of 8.542. More employees were found to be engaged under moderate qualifications from both genders. The age and experience of employees were revealed to be independent of the gender of employees in the present study. The distribution of males recorded significant dependency of age and organization with ?2 value of 20.081 revealing a higher frequency of higher age group employees in government and non-government institutions in comparison to corporate. Both the new entrants and highly experienced females had lower communication abilities than their male counterparts. However, in the middle part of employment, the females showed an edge over males with regard to this variable. Females in the age group of 31 to 40 years recorded significantly better organizational communication than their male counterparts.

Messaging in the Malaysian Workplace: Communication, Social Media and Employee Wellbeing

This article attempts to identify the impact of social media and new messaging processes on the well-being of Malaysian workers (specifically middle managers). It explores Malaysian workplace use of electronic communication methods and how managers view the impact of tablets, social networking apps and similar technologies on their social and emotional well-being, including their capacity to relate to and interact with other employees. In the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, 27 middle managers were interviewed in five focus groups, with the middle managers representing various public and private sector organizations. The findings reveal that social media and e-mail dominate workplace communication among these Kuala Lumpur–based managers; emotional and mental health concerns (like pressure to be constantly available) for themselves and the people they managed motivated some middle managers to preference face-to-face interaction. This was particularly true of certain contexts, like when providing one-on-one feedback on performance. The past decade has seen the widespread and rapid adoption of social media, messaging and other communication technologies in the workplace. It is hoped that this study contributes to an understanding of the impact of this change on employee well-being in Malaysia.