Laughing Nine to Five: The Quest for Humor in the Workplace Paperback – June, 1997
by Clyde Fahlman (Author)
Humor and laughter are vital for personal and organizational renewal—a common sense idea that isn’t too common in many workplaces. With this book you will walk the talk and run your fun, reestablishing people connection, perspective, and creativity. The evidence is now in that humor is effective: from management gurus, key top executives, and most importantly from workshop participants in management sessions facilitated by the author.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“..decries the disappearance of humor on the job and suggests ways to recpature it, chuckle by chuckle.” — The Oregonian Humor and laughter in the workplace can facilitate communication and creativity on the job: how to achieve it? Fahlman uses anecdotes of workshop participants and humor formulas to present a lively discourse on how to promote workplace humor and use it to stimulate renewal and effectiveness. — Midwest Book Review
From the Publisher
When you were a child you laughed 300 times a day. As an adult you’re lucky to log in ten laughs a day and most of those are not on the job. What happened? Author Clyde Fahlman explores this process in the book Laughing Nine to Five, showing how organizations and employees can recapture humor.
From the Author
Please advise those around you that you heard it here first. Sometime in the Twenty-first Century these important concepts will be introduced by the phrase Management By: * Top level managers will be bench marking, looking for new ideas in other locations, i.e. Sun Valley, The Swiss Alps, the fjords of Norway, and Greece. As a result, decisions will be made randomly by someone in the office. It will be called Management By Abandonment. (MBA)
* The author of another management theory is now in graduate school at a leading university. As a matter of fact, she is writing her thesis on the value of second guessing all management decisions. The title with be Management by Post Mortem Seminar. (MBPMS)
* Utilizing polls, man on the street/woman on the street interviews, talk shows, and chat groups on the internet, a remarkable management theory will evolve. Look for Management by Blue Sky. (MBBS)
From the Back Cover
The search is on for humor and laughter in the workplace to facilitate connection, creativity, and perspective. Anecdotes of workshop participants, testimonials from management gurus, and humor formulas adapted to the world of work provide the supporting evidence. Laced with positive suggestions for utilizing humor, the book also includes useful irony and satire. For example, you should be aware that TQM really means Totally Questionable Management.
About the Author
Clyde Fahlman had seventeen different managerial assignments in the Bell System. They were trying to find something he could do when he left. (Note: the seventeen jobs and the “system” no longer exist.) He now teaches management courses in human relations, creativity, and humor in the workplace at colleges in the Portland area. He has crow’s feet around his eyes.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Let’s imagine for a moment that you lost your job because of layoffs, re-structuring, the boss’s spouse, or you were just fired. Your organization may have exit interviews. (You can check this out in something called a HR handbook. HR means Human Reductions.) If they do, you can restore your self esteem easily.
Try these as vehicles for leaving the organization:
“I’m glad it happened. Now I can concentrate on selling my poetry.”
“It was bound to happen. Too many people were envious.”
“My live-in moved out so my expenses went down.”
“I’m going to win the lottery this summer.”
“I got a rash every time I got within ten feet of another employee. This employee was my supervisor.”
Product Details
Paperback: 202 pages
Publisher: Steelhead Pr (June 1997)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0965605531
ISBN-13: 978-0965605533
Product Dimensions: 0.5 x 5.8 x 8.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
