Cultural Awareness And Workplace Humor In A Multi-ethnic Environment

The Significance of Cultural Awareness in Communication

Question:

Analyse what workplace should be and thorough exploration of an example that of a safe or for that matter unsafe space, and also offer recommendations for improvement of the welfare of the space where applicable.
 

1.1 Background:

Cultural awareness is the very foundation of the communication process which entails over the faculty of being aware and observant of various cultural values and beliefs and perceptions. It becomes a focal point when interactions happen between different individuals and evaluate things in diverse practices. Being aware of the rather complex cultural dynamics is not something which is conscious to everybody (Flanja, 2016).

1.2 Scope:

The experiences which individuals inculcate on a daily basis along with value system help them to see and do things in a specific pattern. In the light of globalization, and increased diversity in the workplace along with multicultural and multi-ethnic dimensions coming to the fray, cultural awareness has become an essential tool in the industry.

1.3 Aim:

The following account bears in-depth analysis of what workplace should be and thorough exploration of an example that of a safe or for that matter unsafe space, and also offer recommendations for improvement of the welfare of the space where applicable. This report aims to delve in the essence of cultural diversity in the light of the selected video clip to portray the subtleties of humour and resistance and uptight attitude of abiding by cultural multifarious aspects.

The video clip is taken from the BBC Great Comedy series, “The Office”, in which an employee named Gareth consistently refuses to understand a practical joke or office humor played on him by a co-worker or colleague, named Philip. The joke centres on the supposed immersion of Gareth’s stapler by Philip in some edible jelly. When Gareth is furious and askes his manager David Brent and Solomon to discipline Philip, they, specially his manager, deals with the situation smoothly by cracking a few jokes and pacifying both the employees. Later, Gareth tries to make up for his smugness by retorting that he didn’t want office equipment to be damaged (“Gareth’s Stapler – The Office – BBC”, 2016). When ‘interviewed’, onscreen, he says that he dislikes workplace humor and gives a further demonstration of his uptight attitude by plainly refusing Philip his stapler. Philip, to teach him a lesson, throws the stapler out of the office window and says that it was Gareth who propelled him to do this act. 

The literature encompasses a series of articles written by eminent authors who have not only compiled a series of quotations of culture and cultural studies by prominent names in the field but also has self-analysed their personal hermeneutical situation including studying humor in multicultural British society through the ages. Nevertheless, the literature that is most of the relevance here are Sigmund Freud’s “The Joke and Its Relation to the Unconscious” which pioneered the modern scientific study of the psychology of humour and its interpretation, misinterpretation and its relationships with the unconscious, social structures of power and their transgression which forms the core essence of jokes and funniness (Villarouco et al., 2012).

Exploring Workplace Humor in ‘The Office’

3.1 History and analysis of Humour:

Much of western civilization has been concerned with jokes and humor in classical antiquity; comedy was essentially viewed as inferior to poetry and tragedy, but nevertheless, it revelled in satirizing prominent persons, enemies, and hierarchical power structures. Jokes and humor influence our daily lives in multicultural societies. Specialists have studied their effects when subjects of diverse cultures and lifeworlds encounter and blend with each other. In modern day office parlance, often multiculturalism is not the only factor that goes into misinterpretation of practical jokes. In the middle ages, comedy was much derided, and laughter was considered an instrument of the Devil. However, the middle ages also had a carnivalesque aspect and apparently abject and gross versions are found in many great names of the era (Holley & Steiner, 2016). With the renaissance in Europe, comedy and satire regained their lost places that had once allotted to them in antiquity. With the advent of modernity, and the European enlightenment, laughter, humor and comedy became a staple recipe of western writing cultures. One of the first exercises in comedy in the scientific study of comedy was made by the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. Since then, the serious study and usage of comedy and humor, in their many guises has been a staple of western writing and intellectual faculty. States of mind and previous job occupational training are also relevant constructs in giving rise to sign system in which people sometimes fail to understand the epistemological praxis of the other (Villarouco et al., 2012).

3.2 Cultural self-awareness:

To understand and appreciate various discursive structures belonging to a variety of cultural lifeworlds and mediated by the praxis of the immersed human subjects, it becomes relevant to realize the characteristics of the terminology “culture.” This realization is fundamental to distinguish and identify safe spaces in culture. The appreciation of culture is significant in all facets of various forms of societies- from overcoming communication hurdles to the discernment of socio-politico-cultural lifeworlds. There are three primary essentials that underlie the groundwork of what is better known as “cultural self-awareness” and are formed within a culture (Oatey, 2016). These three fundamentals include behaviour, experience, and knowledge. The itinerary of “cultural intelligence” can only be started by one in appreciating and undergoing cultural self-awareness. Cultural intelligence assumes obvious proportions in a spectrum of situations where one is unfamiliar with the particular ambiance. Sudden and anxiety causing “culture shock” can take place when journeying in a different country than one’s own, or when employed with specific groups of individuals who are much dissimilar regarding age, expertise, knowledge and competence. When one fails to comprehend the diverse interpersonal abilities and semiotic markers such as “body language, “facial expressions” and “tone of voice” or for that matter one feels like a “fish out of the water.” Subsequently, one would start to undergo the “four stages of culture shock” that is, The “Honeymoon” stage, the “crisis” stage, the “recovery” stage and the “complete adjustment stage (Quappe & Cantatore, 2016).

The Importance of Appreciating and Understanding Culture

The video clip that of BBC Great Comedy sequence, The Office, it is observed that Gareth unswervingly fails to decipher the joke or sarcasm being played on him. Philip is the other character associated with the scheme of things. The incident, in particular, focuses on the presence of a stapler as the visual hook that leverages the visual discourse of the clip. Here, it is interesting to note that Gareth’s name is inscribed on the stapler and thus indicating his ownership over the same (“Gareth’s Stapler – The Office – BBC”, 2016). The stapler acts as a logocentric sign which by its presence fuels a heated exchange between Gareth and his colleague, named Philip. Although Gareth had already mentioned that the stapler belongs to him yet, he fails to decipher the subtle nuances in the practical joke played by Philip on him. Gareth, due to his previous experience of being in the Territorial Army, experts more discipline in the workplace and even fails to perceive why David smooths the situation. 

In the video clip, Gareth’s journey to cultural intelligence is thwarted by his stubborn refusal to get culturally self-aware. The visual discourse of the clip is elucidated in the table below.

Scene Number/ Time frame	Physical factors	Communication factors	Inclusion/ Exclusion signs	Display/ lack of Cultural Intelligence
Clip from Gareth’s Stapler-The Office-BBC (2.36 minutes)	Light colors are used in costumes and camera filters to emphasize the formality, yet light-hearted office ambiance. A stapler is used as a semiotic marker to metaphorically represent Gareth’s uptight and stiff approach (“Gareth’s Stapler – The Office – BBC”, 2016).	An uncomfortable silence and lack of direct eye contact are used due to the creation of an awkward situation by Gareth’s misinterpretation of the practical joke. David cracks joke to ease the situation and the awkwardness of the situation is evident through eye and body movement.	The Stapler has Gareth’s name on it, and Philip’s symbolic action of throwing it outside the window marks Gareth’s exclusive nature. It is noteworthy that misinterpreting of a harmless practical joke, and nursing the grudge by not letting Philip borrow it, Gareth all the more marks himself as an outsider in a friendly office environment.	Lack of cultural intelligence is obvious in Gareth as he remains stubborn in his position refusing to educate himself culturally from the previous experience.

Sociological and cultural studies of humour have primarily centred on jokes as a deliberate and possible imaginary that by its very essence of transgressing any social or for that matter cultural taboo, makes fun of it but also subconsciously reinstates it all the more. Although this previous view mostly stemmed from Freud, semioticians later have decoded the complex constructs of various sociocultural and institutional discourses to analyse how jokes and humour go into undermining, criticizing and sometimes reinstating the same. As Gareth endangers his stakes in the office and marks himself as an uptight outsider who still adheres to the nature of his previous workplace in the army, he naturally fails to be marked as an insider in the office ambiance. It is highly recommendable that Gareth shed his inhibitions about working in a friendly environment and becomes culturally intelligent enough to blend in. Furthermore, he is ought to appreciative of the subtle aspects of office humor that is prevalent in such environments. The office would be much safer and culturally inductive place if Gareth could be more flexible and begin the journey of cultural self-awareness to attain cultural intelligence in his overall approach. 

7. Conclusion:

Humour has always been a significant facet of cultural discourses in society, by and large. The overall analysis depicts the key issues of the lack of cultural intelligence and its implications in an office environment. Here, Gareth’s Stapler is selected as a semiotic indicator to mark his position as an outsider in a friendly office environment. The clip from the office portrays how a friendly environment may turn out to be otherwise if one is not in culturally self-aware and hence culturally intelligent. A safe space in the office environs can only be realized if one begins the culturally educative itinerary to positively mould one’s praxis to the specific occupational life world. The overall analysis of the nuances of humour and multicultural ethnic elements embedded in cultural dimensions of office environment puts forth the fact that joke and wittiness are existent in organizational perspective and the same may be observed in best of spirits. 

References:

Flanja, D. (2016). Culture shock in intercultural communication. go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.cdu.edu.au. Retrieved 30 May 2016,

Gareth’s Stapler – The Office – BBC. (2016). YouTube. Retrieved 30 May 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1PHpkdvNOs&feature=youtu.be

Holley, L. & Steiner, S. (2016). Safe space: student perspectives on classroom environment. go.galegroup.com. Retrieved 30 May 2016, 

Oatey, H. (2016). What is Culture?. www2.warwick.ac.uk. Retrieved 30 May 2016,

Quappe, S. & Cantatore, G. (2016). What is Cultural Awareness, anyway? How do I build it?. www.culturosity.com. Retrieved 30 May 2016, 

Villarouco, V., Soares, M., Costa, A. P. L., & Andreto, L. (2012). Evaluation of a work space based on an ergonomic design methodology of the built environment. Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science, 13(2), 203-224.