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Humour across cultures: joking in the multicultural workplace 161

We turn now to our second case study, a multicultural factory team with very
distinctive communication patterns, including distinctive ways of using humour
between team members.

4.2. Case study 2: A multinational factory
Our second community of practice comprises a close-knit team of mainly male
shift workers in a Wellington factory. The team includes members from four dif-
ferent ethnic groups, namely Samoan, Ma ¯ori, Tongan and Pa ¯keha ¯. Most of their
communication is in English, although Samoan is also used on occasion, es-
pecially between Samoan workers. As described in Holmes and Stubbe:

“the team enjoys sustained and multiplex mutual relationships”. They have daily
briefing sessions, individuals have regular contact with one another in the course of
their 12-hour shifts, they see one another at ‘smoko’ (tea/coffee breaks), and there is
regular social contact between many team members outside work hours. Moreover,
because many of the team members have worked together for a relatively long time,
and have developed a strong sense of group identity, they are a very cohesive group.
There is a real sense of joint enterprise in this team, which is highly-motivated both
in terms of completing the immediate tasks during a shift, as well as meeting longer
term goals such as continuing to out-perform other production teams, and meeting
quality and safety targets. Teamwork is highly and explicitly valued, something
which is further reinforced by the Polynesian cultural background of a majority of
the team, which tends to privilege the group over individuals.
Holmes and Stubbe 2003b: 589

One of the more noticeable ways in which these characteristics are reflected in
discourse is in a strong orientation to team morale, and a very distinctive
sparky communicative style. Team members use many markers of solidarity in
their interactions, and there is a good deal of in-group talk and gossip. They
also have a well-deserved reputation at the factory for uninhibited swearing,
and constantly joking around and ‘having each other on’ which sits alongside
their status as the top-performing team. At the time of the study, their particular
blend of verbal humour, jocular abuse and practical jokes contributed to a
unique team culture, and generally helped to create positive relationships
within the team”. 4
This multicultural team has thus developed a distinctive approach to work-
place interaction and humour is an integral component of this style. Expletives
and jocular abuse, in particular, distinguished this team as a community of prac-
tice from others both within the factory and outside. Team members swore at
each other “not only with impunity, but with positive affect. Forms of fuck [for
example], appear to act as markers of solidarity and positive politeness for
members of this community of practice” (Daly et al. 2004: 954). Moreover, jok-
ing around and playing practical jokes on each other were regular events con-