Purpose – The paper seeks to explore the nature and employee experience of an emergent approach to managing employees which emphasises “being yourself” through the expression of fun, individuality and difference. Design/methodology/approach – The paper utilises interviews and...

Purpose – This paper aims to present exploratory, empirical data from an ethnographic study into workplace humour and fun. It explores the notion that workplace humour and fun are influenced by the creation of boundaries that either enable or constrain activities. Design/methodology/approach...

Purpose – This paper aims to critically examine the dynamics of fun and well‐being at work, as experienced and perceived by senior managers in a public sector context. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on research into well‐being with a British Local Authority, focusing...

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate how generational differences moderate the relationship between workplace fun and individual workplace outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – The authors review and integrate the literatures on workplace fun and generational theory and empirically...

Purpose – This article seeks to analyse rituals of humour and joking practices among two groups of meatpacking workers, to better understand the organic dynamics of workplace fun. Design/methodology/approach – This is an ethnographic study of two groups of meatpacking workers within a...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to chart the process of culture change within Durham National Savings, both before and after the public‐private partnership (PPP) of the organisation, and to examine dissent – in its many forms – as a dimension of employee resistance....

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a model to explain frontline employee absence as a form of concerted resistance in a public service welfare environment. Design/methodology/approach – Conflicts over absenteeism can be interpreted as a mix of formal and informal struggles...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how new public management (NPM) reform from the national level is implemented as practice in a local unit within the police sector in Sweden. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative case‐study approach is applied using...

Purpose – Much current academic writing focuses on the changing nature of work in the services sector, particularly with regard to the implementation of new technological processes. Bringing attention back to a traditional industry, coal mining, the paper aims to consider the impact of...