Funny thing about jokes: the uses and dangers of humour

Different cultures have different beliefs about when humor is appropriate, what can be joked about, and even who can be joked with. Attitudes to uncertainty, status and the importance of business influence how much humor can be used.

For example, in cultures where the desire to avoid uncertainly is high, as in Germany, humor will be welcomed when it contributes to the working environment and supports the highly task-oriented German company. But German managers are less likely to use humor tactically, as a means of dealing with criticism, challenging authority, or reducing tension between people. International managers communicating in Germany should be direct.

Status is another important consideration. In some countries people may loosen up as they get promoted. But in more hierarchical cultures, such as France, the opposite is more likely to be the case. Seniority is largely determined by intellectual achievement and academic qualifications. Consequently, French executives are keen to avoid being seen as lightweight. So, while clever and sophisticated humor is acceptable, the risk of appearing foolish, with the accompanying loss of credibility and intellectual status, tends to limit other forms of humor. Self-mocking humor may be completely misunderstood.

In many western business cultures, teasing is routinely used as a means of social control. Typically, it serves to criticize a late-comer to a meeting or to show mild displeasure, while avoiding confrontation. But in certain Asian cultures, making fun of someone may leave managers feeling uncomfortable. In Japan managers use after-hours drinking as functional equivalent to criticizing with humor.

American managers often use jokes to warm up speeches and presentations, but once the real business starts, attempts at humor may met with silence. Americans have invested heavily in a set of political and economic values based on individual liberty and economic opportunity. It follows that business is taken more seriously than in other Anglo-Saxon cultures, such as Britain.

International managers have to proceed carefully, but humor remains a vital means of bridging cultural differences. Shared laughter is particularly important within cross-cultural teams, where it helps to bring differences to the surface and bring to team together. As the international comic Victor Borge once put it, humor remains ‘the shortest distance between two people’.

Culture

GOOD MANNERS, GOOD BUSINESS

Nobody actually wants to cause offence but, as business becomes ever more international, it is increasingly easy to get it wrong. There may be a single European market but it does not mean that managers behave the same in Greece as they do in Denmark.

In many European countries handshaking is an automatic gesture. In France good manners require on arriving at a business meeting a manager shakes hands with everyone present, this can be a demanding task and, in a crowded room, may require gymnastic ability if the farthest hand is to be reached.

Handshaking is almost as popular in other countries – including Germany, Belgium and Italy. But Northern Europeans, such as the British and Scandinavians, are not quite so fond of physical demonstrations of friendliness.

In Europe the most common challenge is not the content of the food, but the way you behave as you eat. Some things are just not done. In France it is not good manners to raise tricky questions of business over the main course. Business has its place: after the cheese course. Unless you are prepared to eat in silence you have to talk about something – something, that is, other than the business deal which you are continually chewing over in your head.

Italians give similar importance to the whole process of business entertaining. In fact, in Italy the biggest fear, as course after course appears, is that you entirely forget you are there on business. If you have the energy, you can always do the polite thing when the meal finally ends, and offer to pay. Then, after a lively discussion, you must remember the next polite thing to do – let your host pick up the bill.

In Germany, as you walk sadly back to your hotel room, you may wonder why your apparently hosts have not invited you out for the evening. Don`t worry, it is probably nothing personal. Germans do not entertain business people with quite the same enthusiasm as some of their European counterparts.

The Germans are also notable for the amount of formality they bring to business. As an outsider, it is often difficult to know whether colleagues have been working together for 30 years of have just met in the lift. If you are used to calling people by their first names this can be a little strange. To the Germans, titles are important. Forgetting that someone should be called Herr Doctor or Frau Direktorin might cause serious offence. It is equally offensive to call them by a title they do not possess.

In Italy the question of title is further confused by the act that everyone with a university degree can be called Dottore – and engineers, lawyers and architects may also expect to be called by their professional titles.

These cultural challenges exist side by side with the problems of doing business in a foreign language. Language, of course, is full of difficulties – disaster may be only a syllable away. But the more you know of the culture of the country you are dealing with, the less likely you are to get into difficulties. It is worth the effort. It might be rather hard to explain that the reason you lost the contract was not the product or the price, but the fact that you offended your hosts in light-hearted comment over an aperitif. Good manners are admired: they can also make or break the deal.

Culture