245 © Te Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 E. Vanderheiden, C.-H. Mayer (eds.), Te Palgrave Handbook of Humour Research, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78280-1_13 13 Risky Business: Humour, Hierarchy, and Harmony in New Zealand and South Korean Workplaces Barbara Plester and Heesun Kim 13.1 Introduction Tis chapter investigates the role of organisational humour in New Zealand and South Korean organisations (hereinafter Korea). Humour is commonly believed to be a positive phenomenon that brings happiness and enjoyment (Roy, 1959) to the workplace. However, because workplace humour is highly contextual similar humour interactions may lead to very diferent interpreta- tions and responses. Without understanding the contextual nuances of humour, unintended outcomes may be created diminishing the quality of interpersonal relationships between organisational members in the workplace (Cooper, 2008). Furthermore, diferent cultural norms and expectations can infuence interpretations, appropriateness, and acceptance of workplace humour, making it somewhat risky within some cultural contexts (Kim & Plester, 2019). In particular, organisational humour may temporarily dimin- ish hierarchical distance between managers and subordinates in the workplace (Cooper, 2008) which may have implications for workplace relationships and B. Plester (*) University of Auckland Business School, Auckland, New Zealand e-mail: b.plester@auckland.ac.nz H. Kim Maeji School of Business, Yonsei University, Gangwon-do, Republic of Korea e-mail: hs-kim@yonsei.ac.kr