Making Workplace Fun More Functional

Recently, many practitioners, books, articles, and consultants have claimed that a fun work environment is a good thing for organizations to have. These sources assert fun will lead to increased productivity, higher morale, and fewer human resource problems. This paper draws the results of a large e-mail survey of managers conducted by the authors. The results indicate that there is overwhelming support for having fun in the workplace. These respondents report that having a fun work environment will increase the levels of enthusiasm, satisfaction, creativity, communications among employees and enhanced feelings of group cohesiveness. The respondents reported few significant downside risks. The survey also asked for suggestions as to how to make the work environment more fun. Many responses were received. They were analyzed, cataloged, and evaluated by the authors and discussed in this paper. © 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limite