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Stefan Bungart's comments on jokes were well-thought out. Obviously Management
jokes are desirable and nob-topical jokes simply clutter the list. Perhaps
there is a serious side to this joking business, which leads me to a question
for everyone:

How important are jokes for educating managers? Are they simply "ice breakers"
to get audiences warmed up, or do trainers and educators find jokes useful as
part of the process of educating managers? Do people use jokes as part of
training exercises?
--
Prof. John L. Naman naman+@pitt.edu http://www.pitt.edu/~naman

Yes I do!

Without humor, trust me, my engineering students
would be a much tougher audience. Why I developed
my eHumor part of their site.

http://user.icx.net/~pgantt/etech/course/eguide/ehumor/

Talk about a group of taskmasters, my engineering
transfers, cross-disciplines are... most instructors
run from this teaching this course... Briar
Rabbit here loves every moment of it!

> part of the process of educating managers? Do people use jokes as part of
> training exercises?

Don't know about managers but my Dilberts sure love jokes ;^}

Speaking of Dilbert, here's a classic:

Catbert:
My laptop computer is locked up can you help?

Dilbert:
Remember you have to hold it upside down and shake it to reboot.

Catbert:
Oh, that's right.

Wally to Dilbert:
I wonder if he'll ever realize we gave him an 'Etch A Sketch'?

Make it a good rest of the weekend and a great
end of the semester.

--
P.A. Gantt, Computer Science Technology Instructor
Electronic Media Design and Support
http://user.icx.net/~pgantt/
[the Internet] could remain what it ought to be:
just a public instrument. There ought to be efforts --
not just talk but real efforts -- to ensure Internet
access, not just for rich people but for everyone.
~~ Noam Chomsky ~~

To me, as a learner, not a teacher, the ability of the teacher to
heighten my desire to learn, to teach me the rudiments in a manner that
stays with me, and to inspire me to exceed at the task is all important.

Humor is only one device with which to do this. There are many others
just as effective. Ever been blindfolded, had your hands tied behind
your back, and been fed a plate of slimy worms? That's an experience I
never forgot about what it means to be blind. (I barfed a perfectly good
plate of room temperature pasta)

"John L. Naman" wrote:
>
> Stefan Bungart's comments on jokes were well-thought out. Obviously Management
> jokes are desirable and nob-topical jokes simply clutter the list. Perhaps
> there is a serious side to this joking business, which leads me to a question
> for everyone:
>
> How important are jokes for educating managers? Are they simply "ice breakers"
> to get audiences warmed up, or do trainers and educators find jokes useful as
> part of the process of educating managers? Do people use jokes as part of
> training exercises?
> --
> Prof. John L. Naman naman+@pitt.edu http://www.pitt.edu/~naman

--
Dick Montgomery, General Manager
21st Century Co-operative
Our Mission - "Help You Increase Sales"
http://www.chemmgrs.com

John L. Naman wrote in Sunday, April 18, 1999 4:43 AM:

..snip
> How important are jokes for educating managers? Are they simply "ice
breakers"
> to get audiences warmed up, or do trainers and educators find jokes useful
as
> part of the process of educating managers? Do people use jokes as part of
> training exercises?..snip

Believe it or not, quite often effective use of joke can simply solve a
problem. Let me tell you the story that actually happened in my friend's
spring factory in Medan, North Sumatra, and how he successfully solved the
problem. Coincidentally, I was with him at that time.

The story begins with a report from a group of the workers demanding the
management to set up a 'selamatan' or a ritual ceremony to drive out ghost,
that they believed had been haunting around the workplace. Thus, the group
complained that they couldn't focus on their work, hence may be resulting in
poor perfomance. My friend thought that the real problem is not the ghost
thing, the workers may expect a goat meat from the ceremony. "The hidden
thing is they missed this delicious food", my friend whispered to me. This
is what he did, he drew his namecard from his pocket, and said to the group:
" Don't worry, the ghost won't harm you 'coz you are not the owner. The one
the ghost should after is ME. If you ever meet the ghost again, go and tell
the ghost to after me instead of you, and this is my namecard and there my
complete address is in it. Hand it to the ghost, ok?" The group reluctantly
nodded their head, and thereafter, there was no report of ghost. Weird,
isn't it? But it works.

There is great force hidden in a gentle command.
~ George Herbert ~

Cheers,
Anwar Hasim