Unlock document.
This document is partially blurred.
Unlock all pages and 1 million more documents.
Get Access
Business Communication: In Person, In Print, Online
INSTRUCTOR’S GUIDE
Chapter 8
Bad-News Messages
Overview
Bad-news messages are written to convey negative news clearly and to
preserve goodwill with the reader. When planning a bad-news
message, effective communicators consider the communication
context, analyze their audience, and choose an appropriate medium.
Then, communicators decide how to organize the message, explain the
decision, give the bad news, and close the message.
Learning Objectives
• Plan a bad-news message.
• Write a message that rejects an idea.
9e
Quick Links for Chapter 8
PPT Slides | Solutions to Exercises | Handouts | Video Suggestions | Company Examples | BizCom in the News
Teaching Suggestions
Resources
LO1: Plan a bad-news message.
INTRODUCE the planning process for bad-news messages that are used to
achieve communication objectives.
INSTRUCT students to work in teams. Ask each team to identify several
business situations when a negative message needs to be delivered. You
may start with a PPT example. Instruct each team to determine the
appropriate media type for the message in each situation (e.g., face-to-face
meeting, phone call, or email) and to justify their choice. Ask teams to
share the results with the class.
14-week business: Encourage students to refer to their own workplace
experiences.
Resources
LO1: Plan a bad-news message.
Invite students to discuss their drafts with a partner or share with the class
for feedback.
Similarly, students can be asked to work on the reasoning and closing for
the message.
Resources
LO2: Write a message that rejects an idea.
INTRODUCE principles of writing a message that rejects an idea.
INSTRUCT students to work with a partner. Ask students to take turns
introducing and rejecting ideas by applying the techniques described in the
textbook. Encourage the student with a rejected idea to give feedback on
how the rejection was successful (or not) in maintaining goodwill,
explaining the reasons, etc.
Resources
LO3: Write a message that refuses a favor.
INTRODUCE ways to refuse a favor in a polite but clear message.
Resources
LO4: Write a message that refuses a customer request.
INTRODUCE an approach for refusing a customer request without
losing goodwill.
14-week business: Ask students to share stories of how they
communicated with customers and delivered refusals in their
professional experiences.
Your management team has to deal with a lot of post-shooting
communication, especially from concerned customers. One of the
customers who was outside of the restaurant on the day of the incident
sent you a request for compensation. The customer claimed that the
Resources
LO4: Write a message that refuses a customer request.
incident had scarred him psychologically, so he had to visit a therapist
to regain emotional balance. He asks you to cover his medical bills.
Because your company has no liability for the situation, you plan to
refuse the request.
Dear Manager,
As a loyal customer of Taco Bell, I was disgusted by the photo of
the young man licking a stack of shells. I know that the company
said these shells weren’t sold to customers, but I am not
convinced.
Thank you,
Disgusted Customer
Of course, a store manager cannot grant these requests. But students
can respond in a way that might reassure this skeptical customer.
Resources
LO5: Write a bad-news announcement.
INTRODUCE bad-news announcements and how they differ from
negative replies and refusals.
SHOW PPT examples of bad news about normal operations. Discuss
how the audience’s role and history with the company impacts the
writing.
14-week business: ASK students to recall the latest bad news
announcement from their company or a previous employer. What do
they recall about the message and how well it was received by
employees?
• What is your assessment of the chair of Yahoo's board firing
Bartz over the phone? What could be the rationale for
terminating her over the phone rather than in person?
• What is your assessment of Bartz's email to Yahoo employees?
Do you consider this appropriate, inappropriate, or something
in between?
Resources
LO5: Write a bad-news announcement.
travel for an in-person meeting. You might see what students come up
with on their own, and then discuss these possibilities.
ASK students to draft a bad-news announcement for this situation
using the proper techniques. Share and discuss the results with the
class.
INSTRUCT students to work in teams. Refer to the handout “Checklist
for Bad-News Messages” (also in the book).
Solutions to Exercises
3Ps in Practice: Announcing the Close of a Division
Process
1. What is the purpose of your message?
To convey to the employees that Yippee’s video services will be discontinued.
2. Describe your audience.
3. At what point in the message will you convey the bad news?
4. Write the first sentence of your email. Be professional, yet sensitive to
employees’ concerns.
Thanks to all of you, Yippee has grown a successful video service that’s home
to more than 1 million users.
5. How will you explain the reasons for the decision?
The reasons justifying the decision should take up the majority of the message,
6. Write the last sentence of your email. Strive for a forward-looking approach, but
be careful not to minimize employees’ feelings.
Product
Dear Yippee Video Employees:
Thanks to all of you, Yippee has grown a successful video service that’s home to more than 1
million users. Our video service is the result of innovation and dedication from each of you.
to stay competitive, but the service is no longer viable—and there’s nothing we can do about it.
We have no choice but to leave video to the bigger players in the market.
Over the next week, your manager and HR representative will meet with you personally to
discuss options with you. We have appointed a transition team to help phase out the service by
July 1. I hope that I can count on each of you to help us during the transition.
Again, I am sorry to deliver this news, particularly to such a hard-working, talented team of
1. Analyze a situation when you received bad news.
Student responses will vary based on their own personal experiences. Be sure to discuss what
made the situations effective or ineffective. Students may discuss any situation, but work
2. Organize a bad-news message.
• After three on-site job interviews, you decline an offer for a summer internship with an
alumnus of your college.
Less direct: You have built a relationship with this person, and he or she has spent time
interviewing you, probably expecting a “yes” response. But students shouldn’t wait too long
if this is a college friend, it is likely a close relationship and doesn’t require the softer tone of an
indirect message.
• You decline an employee’s vacation request because he wants to be away during your busy
season.
Indirect: This employee reports to the writer and may be emotionally invested in the response.
3. Practice writing buffers.
Below are sample buffer statements for each situation.
• After three on-site job interviews, you decline an offer for a summer internship with an
alumnus of your college.
I enjoyed meeting you and learning about the data analyst position.
4. Analyze a rejection letter.
Student groups will analyze the rejection letters differently based on their own opinions;
however, the letter does effectively consider the audience by including a small buffer, and
then getting right to the point. Students may consider adding options for the job candidate.
An example to rewrite the letter is the following:
Sincerely,
[Name]
[Title]
[Company Name]
The following note applies to Exercises 5 – 8, rejecting an idea.
Exercises 5 – 8 involve rejecting an idea. These can be difficult messages to write because of the
time and energy the person put into developing the proposal. The key here is to educate the
