Por Antonio Fonduca

A teoria do Humor sugere que o humor e o laughter são maneiras primitivas de sinalizar a notícia boa e consente em um grupo. Ter um sentido de humor comum pode ser experimentado como compartilhar de um código secreto. O Humor diz também que algo sobre a pessoa expressar o humor como a confiança, inteligência e o cronometrar são todos requeridos para uma observação humorous colocada poço.

O Humor requer a abilidade de responder a outra no momento e seu uso pode ser eficaz em situações difíceis da negociação. Por exemplo, acoplar na direita humorous da interação depois que um artigo de agenda difícil foi dirigido pode funcionar como uma liberação da tensão. Finalmente, o humor pode constituir uma maneira eficaz de controlar o guanxi entre partidos negociando.

Quando vem ao humor do chinês no detalhe eu gostaria de compartilhar de um par das histórias. Este primeiro foi-me dito por um chinês:

Deng Xiaoping, quando estava vivo, teve um visitante - presidente americano - que trouxe um presente fantástico. Era um telefone de que você poderia chamar qualquer um, mortos ou figura viva, do fantasy ou pessoa real. Deng Xiaoping fêz três chamadas: primeiro ao presidente dos E.U. para agradecê-lo para o presente; a segunda chamada ao C. Elai, um dos políticos os mais honestos que viveram sempre em China (ele estava no heaven na altura da chamada); a terceira chamada a Mao Zedong (no inferno). Mais tarde sobre, Deng Xiaoping começou uma conta do telefone e foi surpreendido desde que não coube suas expectativas. Chamou a companhia do telefone e disse que tinha recebido uma conta estranha com as somente duas chamadas registadas. The lady said that she would go and check and soon came back to say that it was very simple really, “the call you made to Mao was a local call”

This second story, extracted from an interview with a Western director at a large firm in Nanjing, further depicts the characteristics of Chinese mentality and humor.

In a negotiation setting, my Chinese counterpart suddenly burst out, “I really like win-win situations. First I win, and then – I win again, ha ha”. The Chinese can often be quite straightforward in their behavior. They can look at you, really gazing you in the eyes and tell you the most unexpected things, just like that. In another occasion, my Chinese counterpart gazed at me and said, “The other suppliers have accepted to the terms and conditions and you have to comply, ha ha, otherwise your competitors will get the contract, ha ha”

What can we learn from these stories? To begin with, we need to dig deeper to really understand the underlying forces of the Chinese mentality. We also need to remain open minded as prejudice and taken for granted opinions can be quite deceitful.

The strategic uses of humor in the stories include:

- To make oneself appear stupid and weak
- To communicate the forbidden and unspoken
- To critique indirectly
- To mask threats

In the latter story, in the viewpoint of the Chinese, he is purely stating the obvious. His behavior is not necessarily rude, although it understandingly may be interpreted as such. He conveys his message, using humor as a tool to mention the forbidden. He might be laughing to hide his nervousness. He might be using humor as ways of releasing tension. He might not only be protecting himself, but also the Westerner’s feelings by conveying his statements indirectly. Certainly, the Chinese are well known to avoiding saying “no” straight out (rather they tend to use any of the plethora of ways of saying no indirectly).

How can we view his laughing, this seemingly rude behavior, in a different light? Many times, this behavior is about saving face. He might laugh since the matter is sensitive. He might feel uneasy and perhaps even be embarrassed, thus trying to hide this in his laughter. At the same time, his behavior might also be interpreted as an honest reminder of the power balance in the relationship, i.e. his bargaining strength.

Undoubtedly, there are several possible interpretations. In any case, try to avoid assuming the worst or the first thing that instinctively comes to mind. Remain open minded and try to really understand the underlying intentions.

Finally, how can we ourselves use humor to our advantage in our business relations? We can use it reactively and proactively:

- as an ice breaker
- to smooth and speed up the courteous phase
- as a way of fishing for information
- to say things that cannot normally be expressed (taboos, masked orders etc.)

Hence, humor not only provides a strategically effective method for argumentation, but also serves to mask true meanings and making direct statements appear indirect. Successful use of humor may also serve to express discontent, since it permits the speaker to express a problem while at the same time saving face.