Smile at work, helps with productivity

Studies show that when colleagues laugh together, it can affect the productivity and innovation of the workplace.

Researchers from Harvard Business School and Wharton School Business recently found that people perceive those who have a humor structure as safer and competent than those who are uncomfortable with joking.

In one experiment, researchers asked 166 participants to assess testers for a company. The first test was meant to be serious, and the second was supposed to be fun. Participants perceived that the second testers were safer and those most likely were sharper and elected as leaders of activity.

In another experiment, researchers presented five interview scenarios for work for participants who read the scripts of conversation between managers and job candidates. In a scenario, the candidate answered a employment manager's question with a serious answer. In another, the candidate told a joke that proved successful (the employment manager laughed). One in three candidates said an inappropriate and successful joke. The last two scenarios included an inappropriate and failed joke. For each scenario, researchers urged participants to assess the trust and competence of the working candidate in question.

On the basis of the responses of participants, researchers found that while an inappropriate joke makes the narrator appear more self - confident, it also makes him appear less capable and with lower status than someone telling a proper joke.

However, researchers found that if a joke was well received, laughter could ease the player's reputation. On the other hand, trying to make a right joke can harm your peers ' opinion of you.

“Do not fear a failure”, writes study author Alison Wood Brooks in Business Review Harvard. “Bad jokes as long as they're appropriate won't harm your social situation or influence how competent people think you are. ”

To be successful in business, you must have a understanding of human nature and know your audience. While this may seem like a common sense, there is now literature to support it. The joke you tell your best friend can't tell your new client. The context is everything.