Mallett, O. and Wapshott, R. (2014) Informality and employment relationships in small firms: Humour, ambiguity and straight-talking. British Journal of Management, 25 (1). 118 - 132. ISSN 1045-3172
Abstract
This paper presents in-depth qualitative research on three small professional service firms whose owner-managers sought to introduce greater degrees of formality in their firms' working practices and employment relationships. We focus on humour as an ambiguous medium of informality, yet viewed by owner-managers as a tool at their disposal. However, while early studies of humour in small and medium-sized enterprises support such a functionalist view, our findings indicate its significant limitations. We argue that humour obscures but does not resolve disjunctive interests and it remains stubbornly ambiguous and resistant to attempts to functionalize it. Our findings contribute to studies of humour in small and medium-sized enterprises by challenging its utility as a means of managerial control or employee resistance. They also contribute to studies of employment relationships by exploring humour's potentially disruptive influence within the formality-informality span, especially as small and medium-sized enterprises seek greater degrees of formalization, with implications for how those relationships are conducted and (re)negotiated on an ongoing basis. © 2012 British Academy of Management.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2012 The Author(s). British Journal of Management © 2012 British Academy of Management. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in British Journal of Management. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Management School (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 30 Oct 2015 10:54 |
Last Modified: | 01 Nov 2015 04:45 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8551.2012.00836.x |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/j.1467-8551.2012.00836.x |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:91338 |