HUMOR AND ADMINISTRATION - A SERIOUS INQUIRY INTO UNOFFICIAL ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION

What is the importance of humor in public administration? Dean Yarwood examines the sources, types, and consequences of humor in administrat ion. He suggests that much administrative humor comes from incongruity -from contrasting the naturalness and ease of traditional institutions with the forced, formal character of bureaucracy. Social scientists f rom a variety of disciplines have carried out empirical studies of hum or in organizations. They conclude that humor has important consequenc es for hierarchy and for the social dynamics of organizations. Another source for understanding humor in organizations is creative literatur e. Here, forms of humor abound that are not emphasized in the social s cience literature. The author concludes that the study of organization al humor ought to be of interest to both public managers and scholars because it is part of the serious business of organizations.