In Basel, does humour strengthen a manager’s credibility?
In Basel’s pharmaceutical, life sciences and Rhine logistics teams, a joke can ease an exchange or undermine the standing of the person making it. The management question is specific: does using humour strengthen perceived authority, or risk a loss of credibility?
What the literature establishes
T. Bradford Bitterly, Alison Wood Brooks and Maurice E. Schweitzer (2017, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology) show across a series of experiments that successful humour can increase the status attributed to its author by signalling confidence and competence. A joke considered inappropriate can instead reduce that status: perceived confidence does not necessarily offset a decline in perceived competence. Daring to make a joke must therefore be distinguished from how the joke is judged.
Sarcasm: a different mechanism
Li Huang, Francesca Gino and Adam D. Galinsky (2015, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes) find that sarcastic exchanges can improve creative performance through abstract thinking while also increasing perceived conflict. In their experiments, trust between the participants mitigates this relational cost. This finding concerns a particular form of expression, not a general benefit of workplace humour.
The premature conclusion
One might conclude that managers should joke more often or introduce sarcasm into R&D discussions. These studies do not justify that recommendation: gaining status, generating an idea and preserving a relationship are different outcomes. A remark may seem confident to its author and inappropriate to its recipient. (our executive and employee training programmes)
What the evidence cannot guarantee
These experiments do not establish that regularly using humour produces lasting improvements in cooperation within a regulated organisation. Nor can they predict how the same remark will be received across all international R&D teams in Basel. In practice, an employee’s laughter is not sufficient evidence that they consider a comment appropriate, particularly when it comes from their manager.
A practical check in Basel
As part of SHR’s Communication programme, a Basel team in pharmaceuticals, life sciences, international R&D or Rhine logistics could test two versions of the same management message: one neutral and one containing a touch of humour that targets no individual. Randomly assigning the versions and anonymously collecting three separate assessments — appropriateness, perceived competence and clarity of the expected action — would allow the team to compare the proportion of favourable judgements and correct restatements of the action for each version. This local check would not demonstrate a lasting effect on cooperation, but it would avoid treating laughter as validation of the message. To go further: explore the Communication training in Basel in the canton of Basel-Stadt, or browse our executive and employee training programmes in Switzerland.
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