4  Time for reflection

Now it is time to reflect on what you have learned so far and relate it to your own experiences. In the following activity, you will receive prompts to help you reflect on your learning in this unit so far and particularly on the videos.

Activity icon Activity 3  Connecting what you’ve learned to your own experiences

Timing: Allow around 10 minutes
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This session explored how humour shapes power dynamics in online meetings. It can be a powerful tool to either reduce or reinforce hierarchies. When used positively, humour can lighten the mood, defuse tension or make people feel more comfortable sharing mistakes. Chairs, in particular, can use humour to set a welcoming tone and encourage openness.

Humour can also be used to belittle others, conceal aggression, or maintain control while appearing friendly. It can also reinforce hierarchies, especially when used by those in senior roles. In these cases, it may perpetuate stereotypes and even prejudice.

You also looked at how humour is gendered. Research indicates that men tend to make more jokes, often in a direct or challenging style, while women are more likely to laugh along or use humour to build connections. These patterns reflect and reinforce broader stereotypes about gender roles and authority in the workplace.

Reflection is an important tool. It is useful to understand when humour is being used in a positive way or if it has been used to cause discomfort or offend others. Everyone has experienced occasions when things are said that may not be perceived the way they were intended. Reflection helps us work out how this has happened. In a workplace where equality is emphasised and sexism is condemned, it is important to also pay attention to our own behaviours.

Next, think about the varying social identities and how they may interplay with the different uses of humour in online meetings and work through the reflective questions in Activity 4.

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The Social Identity Wheel interactive graphic has 11 social identity segments that make up the wheel and the following text is revealed in the centre of the wheel when you click on each of the identities:

  • Gender – woman, man, nonbinary, transgender
  • Sex – female, male, intersex
  • Race – Black, White, bi/multiracial
  • Ethnicity – Arab, Chinese, Irish, Italian, Jewish
  • Sexual orientation – bisexual, gay, heterosexual, lesbian, queer
  • Religious or spiritual affiliation – Agnostic, Atheist, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Humanist, Jewish, Muslim, Pagan
  • Physical, emotional, or developmental (dis)ability – e.g. visual impairment, mobility challenges, mental health, neurodiversity, etc.
  • First language – language learned as child such as English, Welsh, Icelandic, German, Spanish, Catalan, Urdu, Mandarin, etc.
  • Social economic class – working, middle, upper
  • Age – childhood, adolescence, youth, adulthood, older adult, elderly adult
  • National origin – country of birth or family background
Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Activity icon Activity 4  Reflecting on your own use of humour in online meetings

Timing: Allow around 5 minutes

Read through the next subsection which takes you through workplace humour and covers best practice for navigating this in online meetings.

3  How humour is used in online meetings

4.1  Best practice – navigating workplace humour through an intersectional lens