AU Work and No Play: the Role of Humor During a Change in Team Management

Humor is deeply rooted in human perception and communication processes, including the interaction at the workplace. Not only it is a universal trait of humanity, it also plays an important role in management and affects organizational performance, reduces job stress, has a positive effect on health and socialization. Being humorous is definitely beneficial, though this issue lack serious consideration of managerial scholars. The focus of this research is not just humor by itself, it is the perception of humor during organizational change by employees who work in a team. This research examines how humor is used when a new manager takes charge for a workplace team by applying thematic analysis through phenomenological perscpective. The focus of our attention is on studying the use of humor in workplace in a way that helps coping with stress caused by a new manager. This is achieved through various steps, including studying secondary sources to develop a theoretical framework for future consideration, conducting a phenomenological research among the employees of sales department from one of the largest Russian department stores, and thematically analyzing the results in order to provide implications of the research to improving organizational communications through humor.