Humor within Leadership Theory Essay

The break to the success of two venture is strong leadership (Howe 1994). Courage, vision, and climate ar key ingredients in the formula for success. Service to the community or communities too plays a unfavorable role in the development of leadership potential. The importance of liking in this model is funda mental. E very leader has some selfdoubt, but utilise learning ability and spiritual au indeedticity to over set out self-doubt pull up stakes lead to success and prosperity.And what is said for leaders alike arse be said for those who be led. Moslem idea is famous on the whole over the Western world. in that respect is an almost endless number of collections, anthologies, and treasuries of Moslem mood, bulging with tens of thousands of Moslem jokes and anecdotes. That the pettishness of every ethnic group mirrors its conditions of life, its economic, political, and social circum berths, its position vis-a-vis some some otherwise(a) population groups, is so self-evident that it needs but passing mention.What is peradventure not so apparent is that the jokes, the anecdotes, and the other manifestations of desire are keys to perceptiveness the life of the people in question and asshole serve as peepholes by which we can look into otherwise hidden corners of existence. As out-of-the- way(prenominal) as muslim communities are concerned, treasuries of Moslem humor can and should be dropd, and humor should be applied to make the West much large-hearted and admired by the young muslim communities of the world. The techniques and strategies of humor are as relevant at several levels of sustainment organisations, as well(p) as amongst levels.Thus, the study of humor in multicultural society is interdisciplinary and is becoming a discipline in its proclaim right. The current organize is toward methods of negotiation with humor in which the objectives are to obtain a much cooperative long-term relationship and a more(pren ominal) rewarding crucial outcome for young muslim communities. Muslim humor is second to no other product of the Muslim wit in revealing the mental maintain of the Muslims in any given place and at any given time.Whether it contains selfcriticism, directing its barbs at a Muslim group from which the humorist wishes to di position himself, or whether it compares the Muslims and the Gentiles, most practic solelyy to the latters detriment, the Muslim joke is a manifestation of Muslim thinking and mental picture roughly the in-group and various categories of out-groups. For example, the actor Sasha Cohen in the movie Borat makes young muslims express emotion by fashioning fun of Israel, despite him being Muslim himself. It would be askew to pre ply that n whizz of the people who found Sasha Cohen funny were laughing at him for the wrong reasons.Some would have been laughing at what they took to be his imitation, others at adept further remove, were probably laughing at the black separate of his monstrous hybrid. They laughed louder and longer because he revealed it to be alien, eccentric, and absurd in its snobbery, stupidity, and froward attachment to numerous forms of destructive personnel structure-class, race, religion. Those dismal qualities were not being unbuttoneded from the outside by a stranger but explored from the inside in a daring act of patriotic love. That laughter does not position loathing and self-hatred with manic elation.It helps instead to cultivate the everyday, ordinary virtue involved in managing healthier relationships with otherness that are not substitute by fear, anxiety, and violence. The most billetful weapon for creative mind stretching and therefore for re locution is humor, especially when it is self-directed quite a than outward bound. wit directed at some other serves to break the lifelong habits of a unhealthy (symbiotic) relationship between people. Self-directed humor is a real mind healer By floodi ng the anxious mind with grotesquely misinform fears, it banishes phobias and obsessions.In global, it drastically corrects in the mind and in behavior accustomed neurotic (self-sabotaging and destructive) patterns. Humor is a technique involves any natural process matchlessness take to cause the proposals, ideas, or cling tos of another to be spurned in favor of get by getting group members to laugh at, ridicule, or scorn the other persons proposals (Duncan, 1990). Rationalization is founded on trust and respect, and if respect is lost, so too is much of power. art object power snow-whitethorn abhor a vacuum, it equally abhors scorn. Without respect, dominance cannot be maintained.acquiring others to laugh at or denigrate in any way the proposals of others that genius oppose is another way to exercise power in the organization. Perhaps the ultimate in withdrawal of consent is laughter. Nyberg (1981) proposes that laughter, not revolution, is more rough-cut in overthr owing a regime. Authority fears rejection more than any other threat to its legitimacy. Especially in informal organizations, if the leader loses the respect of the fellows he or she is incapable of securing their compliance in even nominal organizational transactions.Humor is a motivated process of talk between living sy stems with the goal of r each(prenominal)ing agreement somewhat certain joint or reciprocal acts. These acts whitethorn involve management of conflict, ex sort of re openings, or cooperation on actions directed at the mutual environment. Behavior within a system is normally regulated by the template of that system. Internal conflict may indicate a need to amend the template. Humor can be used to modify the template so as to remove the source of conflict.For instance, when negotiation occurs between comp singlents or subsystems of a system, as in negotiation to manage conflict between two divisions of a corporation, the terminusing humor may modify the templa te with respect to the roles and required behavior of the divisions. Three prevalent stances facilitate self-referent humor not-knowing, curious, and collaborative. They provide a way for individuals to explore, express, and circumstances the views and intendings of situations that, otherwise, can drive them a bulge. Let us examine each in turn. Not-knowing Stance This stance involves taking the nonexpert position of not knowing.Taking this stance encourages humor by levelling the hierarchies of position and knowledge. While hierarchies exist in all organizations, emphasizing them discourages humor deemphasizing them encourages humor. reflex(prenominal) humor emphasizes equal participation rather than hierarchical power, thereby bringing or so a shift from hierarchy to collaboration. Humor is characterized by content and relationship cycloramas. We all are cognizant of the content aspect of communication the information that a message is think to convey. The egalitarian eth ic of reflex(prenominal) humor eliminates the positions of hierarchy and power in the humor.A not-knowing stance conveys the message that everyone is equally qualified to generate ideas, opinions, and perspectives intimately a situation or a problem. This means that the manager enters into the confabulation without any preconceived notions or ideas. The not-knowing stance also encourages listeners to attend to both the outer humor of others as well as to their own midland humor. This egalitarian approach encourages each participant to contribute to the mutual geographic expedition of ideas. Curious Stance The curious stance simply means that one expresses ones ideas in a funny manner.A despotic or assertive thoughtfulness of ideas often hinders the creative process, but a comic mode of expression encourages others to take, leave, or develop ideas at will without vesting or territoriality. This climate encourages the free exchange of ideas on their own chastity and without th reat of penalty. Taking this stance helps to multiply varying perspectives on a problem and, naturally, leads to an evolved solution. A final advantage is that emergent solutions are usually not solitary(prenominal) the best thought-out and most fitting but also explored and designed by the individuals who will implement them.Collaborative Stance This stance is the result of the two preceding stances. The shared perspectives, ideas, and meanings contributed by the conversants evolve into green knowledge. This process filters many levels of perceptions and triggers deep involvement among participants making possible the co-construction of a jointly-owned outcome. They bring intimately wear out disposition among individuals whose culture and gender may create varying perceptions of the alike(p) reality. There is nothing simple about wrap uping with diversity.Diversity is one of the most complex and refracted areas of management because it involves the involvement of the self with the impersonality. The first step in implementing reflexive humor in university setting is to form small, voluntary, diverse groups. Participants can come from either the same class or a variety of divisions. There are further two rules for membership in the group commitment and confidentiality. One speedily comes to realize that the premises and stances of reflexive humor are not part of normal communication repertoire.People have intimate to function in the hierarchical worlds of home, school, and, the university. In these settings they do not always relate to one another on an egalitarian basis. Much less accepted is the practice session of communicating with others, whether colleagues or superiors, from a curious or not-knowing stance. Furthermore, assuming a collaborative stance in their dealings with one another is not an everyday occurrence either. One accomplishs competence in reflexive humor through learnable skills that require practice.One trains individuals in reflexive humor by introducing each premise and stance and allowing time for practice. The individual being proficient acquires the command of one skill before piteous on to the next. It may be difficult to demoralise the training by talking about diversity issues. To create a conducive climate, groups might begin by discussing study-related or other relatively neutral matters because much(prenominal) topics are more familiar and potentially less explosive. reflexive humor is a general theory that lends itself to any communication context.Therefore, in any setting or on any topic, the process of reflexive humor will entreat multiple points of view and generate mutual self-awareness for the participants. Jointly concentrating on prevalent tasks is an excellent way to begin diversity training. With practice, the process of reflexive humor will engender a sense of trust among its participants. The structure of reflexive humor creates an environment wherein participants can freel y exchange their views and, eventually, communicate with one another on deeper and more meaningful levels. Trust and synergy. Trust reduces the standard of time and energy wasted in suspicion and politics. This time and lying-in can therefore be better deployed on added-value activities that help to award the purpose and vision. When trust, competence and alignment come together we can achieve synergy, and unlock high performance. To develop into an attuned team the members of the group have to be able to trust each other. Reflexive humor is a crude approach to face-to-face communication. It offers a process by which one can access the uniqueness of each individual as well as each individuals cultural paradigm.Through this approach, individuals can better generate information and co-construct those mutual realities that lead to call forthd problem solving. Reflexive humor is particularly useful to individuals from different cultures who wish to establish a common ground for m utual understanding and action. Humor is not in force(p) joking, and management is not exclusively the bloodless supervision of humans in the machine-like achievement of goals. Human emotions and obtainings are involved in many issues, especially in culturally diverse settings. The blame of feeling captures the emotional aspect of human nature.The purpose of this microskill is to identify and make explicit emotions that are often concealed allowing the listener to tune into the speakers emotional experience. While nothing searchs more ordinary than to empathize with another, the reflection of feeling has a particularized structure. The reflection of feeling informs the speaker that you are aware of his or her emotions. This in turn encourages the speaker to clarify further the issue at hand. The listener needs to be cautious about inaccurately labelling feelings. passable time and care must be given to identify the circumstantial feeling correctly.Mislabelling an emotion is a sure sign of misunderstanding the speaker. The reflection of meaning may be the microskill that is most relevant to the diverse workplace. It has to do with how different racial, ethnic, gender, or cultural groups organize life and experiences as well as the meaning they draw from those experiences. This microskill may appear to be very much like the preceding ones of the paraphrase (which restates thoughts) or the reflection of feeling (which reflects emotions). Indeed, the reflection of meaning combines thoughts and meanings.One should remember that both reflecting skills of humor deal with profound issues emotions, values, meanings, and the particular sense each one of us makes of the world. uncomplete skill should be used insincerely or manipulatively. Inappropriate use can cause as much anger and distrust, on the one hand, as understanding and trust, on the other. However, used ethically, with a sincere attitude, no microskill is more useful, what joke one may make of situa tion, what values may motivate seemingly culturally different behaviors, or why an action or word that is unimportant (or important) to you may be important (or unimportant) to a colleague.Patterns of nerve accomplish and gaze also play an underestimated role in sense of humor. clear phallics have their own, unique, eye abut patterns. When speaking, a white priapic looks past from the listener most of the time, making eye contact with the listener to emphasize significant points. While auditory modality, a white male looks at the speaker most of the time. Eye contact indicates that the listener is paid attention to what is being said. Another pattern of eye contact signals the number when turn-taking occurs for speaker and listener.Generally, when the speaker is nearing the end of a statement, he briefly looks aside from the listener. Then, upon finishing the utterance, he reestablishes eye contact to signal that it is the turn of the other person to speak. Major humor pr oblems can result if eye contact patterns are not in synchrony. Without either conversant being consciously aware of it, at appropriate time in the white male style a trustworthy person looks in the eye, while an slippery person does not. If both parties share this pattern, conversation flows smoothly.If the patterns are at odds, one may call the other shifty, while the other may feel uncomfortable. In such a situation, the humor becomes strained, and the participants are conscious of that fact. White males do not seem to employ or recognize the value of nonverbal communication, in general, or of eye contact, in particular. Yet, it is evident that eye contact patterns play a significant role in effective humor. The general white male pattern is for speakers to gaze less at listeners and for listeners to gaze more at speakers.This is how white male listeners demonstrate their lettered listening or attending behavior. One of the most significant characteristics of the Muslim verba l communication style is its oral tradition. Muslims were forcibly transported from traditional societies that were oral. The inheritance of orality may be most evident in two areas of the Muslim verbal communication style the mode of listening, and the importance of expressing feeling during social interaction. Comparative studies have found that Muslims and whites have different verbal communication styles.Whites tend to make more use of the attending or listening skills in their face-to-face communication by using a previous lean of the upper luggage compartment or asking open-ended questions. Muslims tend to be more directive by giving advice or confronting. An earlier discussion of microskills noted that open questions are less direct and quest a conversational partner to provide more information on a topic while closed questions tend to retrieve specific pieces of information and limit dialogue. Depending upon the circumstances, each type of question is equally valid.Howe ver, a dialogue with predominantly closed questions can take on the preeminence of an interrogation. Similarly, humor replete with open questions lends a less tenuous chant by giving respondents more room to provide information at their own pace. Therefore, the type of question sets the tone of a conversation. The Muslims expression of feeling may also contrast with white expression of feeling. Whereas emotions may be more openly expressed according to the Muslim humor paradigm, they are more repressed by the mainstream white paradigm. accord to the Muslim humor paradigm, one is more congruent when one expresses emotions. check to the norm of the white male humor paradigm, one expresses ones reason and logic dispassionately. For many Muslims, the expression of feeling is crucial to sure-enough(prenominal) humor between individuals. Therefore, in the Muslim paradigm one is believable when one expresses emotions one is more credible when emotions are expressed resolutely. doubting Thomas Kochman, scholar of linguistics, holds that one achieves ultimate credibility when logic and affect harmoniously intertwine.Only then can there be congruence between ones thoughts and verbal communication. When one represses thoughts and feelings and expresses only logical thoughts, the variance is likely to emerge through nonverbal behavior, such as moving away or breaking eye contact. The meanings that may be attributed to such incongruencies according to the Muslim communication paradigm may range from cunning or hypocrisy to weakness. The Muslim style of greater and more open expression of feeling can result in behaviors that may seem overly assertive and even confrontational to many whites.In conflictual situations, Muslim nonverbals tend to include loud tones of voice, intense eye contact, and sweeping gestures. Verbally, Muslims may freely express their emotions and, according to Kochman, directly challenge not only facts or ideas but also the individuals who presen t them. Many may get word such behaviors as not only confrontational but also preludes to aggression. However, for Muslims the expression of ones mind and spirit only mean being true to oneself. Whether one stands close together or further apart can make people feel more or less comfortable in dealing with one another.Some research indicates that, while conversing, Muslim children tend to stand contiguous together (Baxter 1973). In her analysis of research on proxemics, Halberstadt found that Muslims tend to stand closer to one another when young but farther apart when elder Muslim primary school children stand closer together than Muslim junior high or high school students. Distances increased keep mum more for Muslim adults. Additional research indicates that Muslim adults tend to accost each other and stand somewhat further apart than other ethnic groups.Studies have found evidence that Muslim Americans greet each other (and Caucasians) at greater distances than white Ame ricans greet each other. A comparative study showed that Muslim Americans interact at the greatest distances, Mexican Americans interact at the closest distances, and white Americans interact at ordinary distances (Baxter 1973). Another study concluded that during interviews whites tend to sit farther away from Muslims than they do from other whites. Humor is particularly significant to Muslims.The heritage of humanitarianism and person-oriented behavior as well as the tendency to express emotions freely inclines some Muslims to be more reliant upon humor. On the basis of her freshen up of the literature, educator Janice Hale-Benson states that Muslims are more proficient than are whites in expressing and spy emotions. Any sign of understanding what another person has told encourages him or her to evidence more. Paraphrasing more powerfully encourages continuing the humor and elaborating thoughts resulting in more flesh out about concerns and issues. One paraphrases by restati ng, in ones own words, the essence of what a colleague has said.Paraphrasing has three specific components beginning stem restatement and concluding, checking stem. Mens body postures tend to convey messages of gender power and dominance rather than of affiliation. Often such kinesic behavior discourages rather than invites humor. In contrast, the relaxed attending posture of a forward lean of the upper body invites humor. Such attending nonverbal humor reflects an individuals desolation and willingness to listen and enter into a friendly humor. The white male norm is for individuals to gesture with restraint less than Hispanics but more than Muslims.Wrists and hands are used much more than arms to gesture. Except at times of great joy or sorrow, elbows generally are not brocaded above shoulder level. Those who gesture more than this norm may be considered flamboyant individuals who gesture less than this norm may be considered edgy or cold fish. A new approach to managing divers ity is necessary. Reflexive humor embodies the principles required for a second-order change. Through the recursive feedback loops it engenders, reflexive humor induces individuals to move beyond the limits of old assumptions.Furthermore, by flattening the hierarchy, its egalitarianism encourages the participation that unfolds to disclose new and creative solutions. This new approach to humor delineates how individuals can come together to work on constructing mutual realities. The process of reflexive humor establishes commonalities rather than magnifying differences. It provides individuals with the opportunity to come to know one another through a continuous process of mutual interchange. Such an approach inclines to modify subjective meanings and to create the common grounds that are the bases for common understanding.The reflexive process of sharing information creates the recursive loops by which one clarifies and reduces the uncertainties that all have about each other. Ther efore, the nature of this change is both constitutional and evolutionary. The second-order change induced by reflexive humor is not the result of external injunctions by trainers to change ones assumptions about groups, as may have been true of some previous training approaches. Rather, the change produced by humor is the result of a volitional, egalitarian, and mutually-induced process.The continuous interchange of humor creates the fertile ground where individuals studying together co-create solutions of a second-order change. This change emanates from newly-developed assumptions establish on newly-generated realities. In effect, humor induces greater intersection in the thoughts, beliefs, perceptions, and meanings of the individuals who consider in it. As Johns Hopkins linguist Lawrence Kincaid puts it, an effective humor logically leads to the state of greater uniformity, or the successive reduction of diversity (Lawrence 1988).Thus, applying humor in the diverse society can lead to a place where the construction of new realities is possible. This is where cultural issues and cultural differences meld, and a new reality ensues as a result of the information-sharing process. Hence, myths about differences begin to diminish and common realities begin to evolve. From these emerge the common ground, the convergence that is essential for the shared understanding that common action requires. Humor is the missing link of diversity training.It is the second-order process by which individuals can mutually change themselves and each other according to their own pace and direction. Humor is perhaps the least tangible aspect of organizational life, but it seems to have very powerful and tangible effects on people from different cultures. In a high energy cash dispenser one can sense peoples excitement just by watching the way they move, the way they interact and go about their business, and even the expressions on their faces. When one walks out of a very positiv ist atmosphere, one wants to go back.If the atmosphere is stifling, unwelcoming, filled with tension, and not much fun, then one does not want to return. If the place happens to be ones workplace, the effect can be very powerful. The microskills are specific tools that enhance the humor process. They are relatively easy to learn. The skills are best learned oneat-a-time. Following the presentation and discussion, practice provides a hands-on approach to the ascendence of each skill. As one gains proficiency in one skill, another is added and practiced simultaneously.Thus, each remaining skill is added until the complete set of microskills has been acquired. The key to proficiency with the microskills is practice. While these skills are easy to comprehend and implement individually, making them part of students everyday behavior may not be as easy. Only through continued conscious effort in using and practicing the skills can we successfully make them part of our behavioral repertoi re. They are skills that can be applied to any life setting to enhance understanding of one another and, hence, relationships. References Baxter C. ( 1973).Interpersonal spacing in two-person cross-cultural interactions. Man-Environment Systems, 3. D. Lawrence Kincaid. (1988). The convergence theory and intercultural communication. In Young Yun Kim & William B. Gundykunst (Eds. ), Theories in intercultural communication. refreshfulbury Park, CA Sage Publications.Howe, Susan E. S. (1994). Exploring New Leadership Styles. Pennsylvania CPA Journal 65, no. 1. Nyberg, David. (1981). Power all over Power. Ithaca, N. Y. Cornell University Press. Thomas Kochman. (1981). Black and white styles in conflict. Chicago University of Chicago Press.