Are we having fun yet? A consideration of workplace fun and engagement
| Pages | 556-568 |
| Date | 02 October 2009 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01425450910991721 |
| Published date | 02 October 2009 |
| Author | Sharon C. Bolton,Maeve Houlihan |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
GUEST EDITORIAL
Are we having fun yet?
A consideration of workplace fun
and engagement
Sharon C. Bolton
Strathclyde University Business School, Glasgow, UK, and
Maeve Houlihan
University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Abstract
Purpose – This extended editorial to the Special Issue “Are we having fun yet? A consideration of
workplace fun and engagement” aims to review the current debates on organised “fun at work” and to
suggest a framework for understanding workplace fun and employee engagement. The papers
included in the Special Issue are also to be introduced.
Design/methodology/approach – The editorial review asks for an approach that offers a critical
appraisaland sets the latest movetowards fun at work within the contextof the material realtiesof work.
Findings – A review of contemporary debates on fun at work reveals a predominantly prescriptive
focus on attempts to engage employees through fun activities that oversimplifies the human
dynamism involved in the employment relationship. The editorial suggests that we need to consider
the motivations, processes and outcomes of managed fun at work initiatives and to consider
employees’ reactions in terms of “shades of engagement” that detail how people variously engage,
enjoy,endure,orescape managed fun.
Research limitations/implications – The suggested framework for understanding workplace fun
and employee engagement offers opportunities for empirical testing.
Practical implications – Understanding workplace fun and the work that it does, and does not do,
offers opportunities to improve relationships between employees and between employees and the
organisation.
Originality/value – The editorial and Special Issue overall offers an important contribution to the
ongoing fun at work and employee engagement debate and opens up avenues for further exploration
and discussion.
Keywords Workplace, Employeebehaviour, Employee development,Employee involvement,
Employee participation, Employee attitudes
Paper type Viewpoint
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
The authors would like to thank Professor John Gennard, Professor Dennis Nickson, and all the
editorial team for the opportunity to develop this Special Issue, and of course Nancy Rolph at
Emerald and Linda Brisbane at Strathclyde for their warm communication and encouraging
editorial advice. Sincere thanks are due to all authors who responded to the call, to the saintly
reviewerswho submitted very helpful feedback,and to each of the final contributors to this Special
Issue for theirhard work, enthusiasm, and verypatient responses to our many requests.The Guest
Editors would also like to thank the steering group and participants of the International Labour
Process Conference, where the idea for the Special Issuewas first nurtured, and for many helpful
comments on our initial presentation of arguments made at ILPC 2007 in Amsterdam, and to all
those who took part in the subsequent “Fun at Work” stream at ILPC 2008 in Dublin.
ER
31,6
556
Employee Relations
Vol. 31 No. 6, 2009
pp. 556-568
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/01425450910991721
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