Chapter 10

Delivering Negative
Messages
ƒ Overview
ƒ Purposes
ƒ Organizing
ƒ Parts
ƒ Tone
ƒ Alternative Strategies
ƒ Varieties 10-1

Negative Messages

ƒ Information conveyed is negative

ƒ Audience’s reaction is negative
• Message does not benefit them
• Usually they experience disappointment
or anger
Rejections, Policy changes not
ƒ Varieties refusals benefiting customer
Poor performance Disciplinary notices
appraisals
Insulting, intrusive Product recalls
requests

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Primary Purposes

ƒ To give audience bad news

ƒ To have audience read, understand, and
accept message
ƒ To maintain as much goodwill as
possible

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 Secondary Purposes

ƒ To build good image of

communicator
ƒ To build good image of
communicator’s
organization
ƒ To avoid future messages
on same subject

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Purposes

ƒ Want audience to feel

• They have been taken
seriously
• The decision is fair and
reasonable
• If they were in your
situation, they would
make the same
decision

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Prefer the direct plan when

ƒ Writing to superiors
ƒ The bad news involves an insignificant
matter
ƒ The reader prefers directness
ƒ The reader expects a “no” response
ƒ The writer wants to emphasize the bad
news
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Presenting bad news directly

ƒ Present a brief rationale along with the

bad news.
ƒ Follow with needed explanation.
ƒ End with a friendly, off-the-topic closing.

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Prefer the indirect plan when

ƒ Writing to colleagues and subordinates

ƒ Writing to someone outside the
organization
ƒ The reader prefers the indirect approach
ƒ You don’t know the reader
ƒ The reader expects a yes.

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Presenting bad news indirectly

ƒ Begin with a buffer.

ƒ Justify your decision.
ƒ Present the bad news.
ƒ Close on a positive note.

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Context Crucial in Messages

ƒ Do you and audience have good bond?

ƒ Does organization treat people well?
ƒ Has audience been warned about
possible negatives?
ƒ Has audience accepted criteria for
decision?
ƒ Do follow-ups build goodwill?

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Parts of Negative Messages

ƒ Subject lines
ƒ Buffers
ƒ Reasons
ƒ Refusals
ƒ Alternatives
ƒ Endings

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Parts: Subject Lines

ƒ Include the topic, not the specific

negative
ƒ Use negative subject lines when the
audience
• May ignore message
• Needs information to act
ƒ Keep in mind not everyone reads all their
messages RE: Important Change

• Be cautious of neutral subject lines

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Parts: Buffers

ƒ Lessens the impact of the bad news.

ƒ Neutral and relevant statements
• Helps establish or strengthen the reader-
writer relationship
ƒ Provides a transition to the bad news
ƒ Sincere effort to help the reader accept
the bad news.

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Types of Buffers

ƒ Compliment
Congratulations, Tony, on the 95 percent
approval rating from our seminar participants.
That’s a first for our department.

ƒ Facts
Last week’s approval of our Westinghouse
proposal will mean a dramatic increase in the
number of technical seminars we’ll sponsor

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Types of Buffers

ƒ General principle
I believe in furnishing our trainers with the
tools that they need to fulfill our company’s
training needs.

ƒ Good news
The new Barco projection system that I
approved yesterday will enable us to produce
multimedia training sessions for the first time.

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Types of Buffers

ƒ Understanding
I want you to know that I support your efforts
to increase the effectiveness of our training
mission.
• Neutral
• Relevant
• Supportive
• Interesting
• Short
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Parts: Reasons

ƒ Major part of bad news message: REASONS.

ƒ If possible, explain reader benefit, or other
benefits that do not include you.
• You do not want to sound selfish
ƒ Not in your Company’s best interest:
• Provide short explanation
• Business, not personal
• Don’t hide behind company policy, explain
ƒ Present the strongest reason first.

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Parts: Refusals

ƒ As you have presented valid reasons:

• Bad news should not come as a surprise
• Decision is logical and reasonable.
ƒ If possible, stress what you can do.
• Avoid these terms: Cannot, are not able to,
impossible, unfortunately, sorry, and must refuse.
ƒ Use impersonal language
ƒ Resist the temptation to apologize for a
reasonable business decision.

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Giving the bad news

ƒ To enable us to have the funds needed to

finance our move into multimedia
presentations, we’re delaying all other capital
equipment purchases for six months. These
presentations are projected directly from the
computer itself, thereby avoiding the need to
print color transparencies.
• Subordinated
• Positive
• Impersonal
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Consider Compromise/Alternatives

ƒ Offers way to get what

audience wants
ƒ Shows you care about
audience’s needs
ƒ Returns audience’s
psychological freedom
(freedom of choice)
ƒ Allows you to end on
positive note
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Parts: Endings

ƒ Refer to a good alternative at end

ƒ Best endings look to future
ƒ Avoid insincere endings:
• Please let us know if we can be of further
help.

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Closing on a positive note

ƒ Best wishes
Best wishes, Tony, as you continue your efforts
to strengthen the training mission of our
organization.
ƒ Counterproposal
To help ensure the timely printing of your
transparencies, I would be happy to authorize
courier service to and from the print shop until
we’re able to consider this matter further.

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Closing on a positive note

ƒ Other sources of help

In the meantime, Marc Dye has indicated that we
can use the Kodak color copier in the marketing
department for making one or two color copies at
a time.
ƒ Resale or subtle sales promotion
Comments that I hear from my colleagues in
other departments reinforce my own belief that
the training department contributes substantially
to the overall success of our firm. Thanks for your
help, Tony.

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Apologies

ƒ Don’t apologize
• If correcting only small error
• When not at fault
ƒ Do apologize
• Only once
• Early in message with a reason
• Briefly
• Sincerely
• Focus on how the situation is corrected
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Tone in Negative Messages

ƒ Tone—implied attitude of the author

toward the audience and subject
ƒ Show you took request seriously
ƒ Use positive emphasis and you-attitude
ƒ Think about visual appearance
ƒ Consider timing of message

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Varieties: Claims and Complaints

ƒ Needed when something has gone

wrong
ƒ Use direct organization pattern
ƒ Give supporting facts and identifiers
ƒ Avoid anger and sarcasm or threats that
you will never use company again

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Varieties: Rejections and Refusals

ƒ Requests from external audience

ƒ Indirect is almost always used.
• Don’t wait
ƒ Tone is crucial. Convey respect,
sincerity, and courtesy.
ƒ Use buffer of understanding.
ƒ Impersonal language, and explain
ƒ Is there room for compromise?
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 Varieties: Disciplinary Notices and
Performance Appraisals
ƒ Present directly—no buffer
ƒ Cite specific observations of behavior
• Not inferences
• Include dates, quantities
ƒ State when employee may return to
work, if disciplinary action is taken

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Varieties: Layoffs and Firings

ƒ If company likely to fold, tell early

ƒ Give honest reasons for firing
• Unrelated face-saving reason may create
legal liability
• Avoid broadcasting reasons to avoid
defamation lawsuit
ƒ Deliver orally; backup in writing

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