Managing people at Work Assessment 1:

Individual Report task

SCHOOL OF
ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET

STUDENT DETAILS

Student
ID
Student name: Arwen-Leigh LaCour number: s20777265

UNIT AND TUTORIAL DETAILS

Unit
Unit name: Managing People at Work number: 1023

17.08.
Tutorial day and 2022
Tutorial group: Managing People at Work time: 11am

Lecturer or Tutor name: Tim Dein

ASSIGNMENT DETAILS

Title: Report Task 1 Journal Article

Date submitted:
Length: 500 words 18.08.2022

Home campus (where you are enrolled): Parramatta City Campus

DECLARATION

I hold a copy of this assignment if the original is lost or damaged.

I hereby certify that no part of this assignment or product has been copied from any other student’s work
or from any other source except where due acknowledgement is made in the assignment.
 I hereby certify that no part of this assignment or product has been submitted by me in another
(previous or current) assessment, except where appropriately referenced, and with prior permission
from the Lecturer / Tutor / Unit Coordinator for this unit.

No part of the assignment/product has been written/produced for me by any other person except
where collaboration has been authorised by the Lecturer / Tutor /Unit Coordinator concerned.

I am aware that this work will be reproduced and submitted to plagiarism detection software programs
for the purpose of detecting possible plagiarism (which may retain a copy on its database for future
plagiarism checking).

Student’s signature: Arwen-Leigh LaCour

Note: An examiner or lecturer / tutor has the right to not mark this assignment if the above declaration has
not been signed.

Introduction:
Humour in Australia is considered to be one of many coping mechanisms due to factors
such as hard and stressful times, uncomfortable living conditions and the vastness of the
continent. Within Australian culture, the use of nicknames is common in acquaintance
relations and friendship groups. However, issues within Australian workplaces can arise
through poor choice of nicknames and ‘crude’ humour. In some cases, nicknames used can
include derogatory words or terms which can be given to certain demographics of people,
nicknames which include discriminatory terms or words can be considered bullying,
harassment, or discrimination within the workplace if the individual/s that the nickname is
given too is considered discriminatory or offensive. This article explores the issues which
relate to work health and safety that the use of offensive terms, nicknames and humour can
introduce into the workplace and how these can transgress into bullying, and the processes
in which human resource management deal with issues related to this concept.

Part A:
Regarding joking behaviour in the workplace, the authors argue that this kind of behaviour is
considered to be normal and expected within work environments and that jokes are typically
used in the workplace as alleviation from bored individuals or groups. Djurkovic &
McCormack et al. p.g 383 ‘Humour in workplaces’ (2022). This is due to many defining
aspects of the Australian culture being built around ‘laid back’ mannerisms and creating
humorous relationships with others in our environment to combat boredom. However, there
is a fine line between ‘joking’ and bullying, the authors argue that there may be hierarchical
implications for people of different ethnicity who are on the receiving end of the ‘joke’.
Individuals who had participated in interviews for the article suggested that the joker in
workplace scenarios are typically unaware of the offensive nature of their jokes and how the
person may most likely interpret it in a hurtful sense instead of finding it humorous. The
authors then continue to explain how this can cause a feeling of isolation and discrimination
in the worlpkace which can transpire into a workplace health and saftey violation that may
need to be brought to human resource management’s attention. Djurkovic & McCormack et
al. p.g 389 ‘ Australian culture and joking behaviours in the workplace’ (2022).

Part B:
The authors have stated that the human resource professionals of workplaces are tasked
with controlling the level of humour that is used within the workplace and also determining
what is acceptable and what is not in work environment interactions. In order to do so, they
must ensure all individuals within the workplace are compliant with anti bullying policies.
Djurkovic & McCormack et al. p.g 385 ‘Joking behaviour, bullying and human resource
professionals’ (2022). They are also responsible for determining what is ‘humour’ and ‘joking
behaviour’ and what is considered bullying. Complications can arise if multiple human
resource professionals appointed to the same issue within a company disagree on what is
considered bullying and what is considered as joking in a particular situation, as well as if the
employee who is on the receiving end of the bullying behaviour disagrees with the decisions
made by the HRP’s. In some instances, a human resource manager may not consider
particular comments or behaviours as bullying, while an employee who feels offended by the
same behaviours or comments does in fact consider it to be bullying, this could be a result
from boundaries being set improperly which is where conflict and implications for human
resource professionals can arise.

Reference List:
Djurkovic,N & McCormack,D 2022, ‘Joking behaviours and bullying from the perspective of
Australian human resource professionals’, Asia Pacific Journal of Human resources, pp. 389

Djurkovic,N & McCormack,D 2022, ‘Joking behaviours and bullying from the perspective of
Australian human resource professionals’, Asia Pacific Journal of Human resources, pp.385

Djurkovic,N & McCormack,D 2022, ‘Joking behaviours and bullying from the perspective of
Australian human resource professionals’, Asia Pacific Journal of Human resources, pp.383

Djurkovic,N & McCormack,D 2022, ‘Joking behaviours and bullying from the perspective of
Australian human resource professionals’, Asia Pacific Journal of Human resources, pp.382