The Origins of Workplace Humor and its Definition

Abstract

This paper describes a phenomenon that has been determined by many scholars as a trivial behavior in daily lives but few definite descriptions were given upon the humor-entity within the work environment. Likewise, the early writings had neglected the origins of such a phenomenon from the literature perspective. Hence, and by utilizing the phenomenological research paradigm, a through literature review was conducted to attempt to the set research gap where it was found that workplace humor is derived from the quality of work life approach which is a significant part of the techno-structural intervention. It was also concluded that workplace humor is defined as any amusing activity or communication within the organization that would result in positive emotions and reactions in the individual, work group, and organization.