HUMOR CONSULTING - LAUGHS FOR POWER AND PROFIT IN ORGANIZATIONS

The recommendations of corporate humor consultants are examined as sou rces of insight about the meaning of humor in organizations. Humor con sultancy as an emerging profession is first situated by outlining the social, intellectual and historical contexts which have led to its ris e. Elements of the performers, audience, setting, message, channel, co de and attitude are described, followed by a prototypical ''script'' f ormed by merging themes common to consultants' oral presentations and written material. While past literature has emphasized the functions o f humor in organizations, this study suggests that consultants use fun ctionality as a selling point for a model which conceives of humor as a controllable tool. This ''humor as tool'' metaphor emphasizes contro l over self at the individual level, and more strikingly, control over employees at the organizational level.