Humour as way to think out-of-the-box

In my scrapbook I already made many different references to how we best can implement knowledge sharing and learning initiatives. I have mentioned the role of leadership, self-organizing, storytelling and so on. However, I just read the newest blogpost from Chris Rodgers on Informal Coalitions (a really interesting work of reference) about the significance of humour in organizational learning.

Often, Chris Rodgers is referring to the work of Edward de Bono (so also in this blogpost). De Bono argues that humour is the most significant behaviour of the human mind, because it is a pattern-switching process. On top of this, Chris Ridgers gives an example of how such a pattern-switching process works:

Regardless of the subject-matter, the 'set-up' (of a joke)leads the listener down a familiar, 'reasonable' pathway. When this pattern has been established (whether as part of a “one-liner” or a longer, “shaggy dog” story) the punch line suddenly shifts their attention 'laterally' into a different, hitherto unseen track.

Thus, humour is delibrately triggering the natural patterns by introducing new and unexpected patterns that otherwise would not have emerged. It is being argued by many researchers that introducing new and unexpected patterns should happen in order to be innovate by thinking out-of-the-box (sorry, I do not have a better description).

So, I believe that humour is indeed a powerful technique within the art of storytelling. It is not something that stands on itself as a particular tool. It should be grasp through storytelling. However, should we encourage staff members to use humour in order to introduce latertal thinking? I believe we should not! Humour is a gift or a talent, a talent that cannot be taught through organizational initiatives. Humour is something that will be created from the inside, from the heart. It is nearly impossible to engage the audience with humour which is written down on a single-paper. Remember Bob Saget and his show 'Americas Funniest Home-Videos'? I tell you, he was not funny by telling prepared humour through the auto-cue. However, in order to use the power of humour in organizations, organizations should think about how to create a team (in which someone should have the natural capacity of using his or her humour).

Organizational learning and HR

It is always easy to say how a business should look like in order to be innovative and competitive. An example of such a judgment was, for instance, my dissertation research on the discovery of leadership behavior that enhances organizational learning. Based on an extensive literature review I outlined the ingredients that make a business successful in organizational learning. After that, I tested these outcomes through conducting three interviews with corporate leaders and listed some additional ingredients.

But what is learning? And is it something that should only be encouraged by the business? No!

As individual staff member it is not enough 'to know about', but 'the ability to perform' is decisive. These individual staff members need to know what their competences are that let them perform a job in a way that generates added value. What do they need embody?

1) Professional competence
The competence needed for performing a task in a work situation in a way that creates added value in relation to the work that is being carried out

2) Social competence
The ability to communicate and interact with people in different contexts through, for instance, language, artistic expression, movement, mathematics, or technical tools

3) Personal competence
Self-knowledge that forms the basis for the development of social competence.

Therefore, organizational learning can only be successful when both the individual staff members as well as the businesses are at the same line. The more important is the work as HR departments.

HRM and KM

KM as cross-disciplinary practice is not something new. In my dissertation report I already acknowledged the strong links to organisational learning and complexity theory. Although these links resulted in very interesting insights, such as the role of cognitive science in knowledge creation and sharing processes, the research period did not allow me to draw extensively attention to the practice of human resources manangement (HRM). Luckily, there are other researchers and scholars who did this. An generic overview of the interplay of HRM and KM can be found in the article HRM and Knowledge Management written by Ingi Runar Edvardsson published in the Journal of Organizational Change Management (2008/05). It is a pity Edvardsson did not mention organisational learning in it title, or should we just get rid of the terminology knowledge management and change it in organisational learning?

Edvardsson is giving the following overview of KM processes in the following model:

This overview is actually the same as what has been written in the literature about Single Loop Learninng and Double Loop Learning by Argyris and Schön (1976)

To know more how HRM tasks/responsibilities are being applied in these KM processes, please read the full text article