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CHAPTER 8: Writing Negative Messages
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Chapter 8 focuses on writing effective negative messages by applying the three-step writing process
introduced in Chapters 3, 4, and 5. Although communicating negative messages is not always easy, using
the proper tone and approach can help create an effective message that the audience will accept and
understand. The chapter provides guidance in assessing the use of direct or indirect approaches and an
examination of the ethical risks of using the indirect approach. Students learn about composing effective
buffers, providing reasons, wording refusals, and building goodwill. Examples and suggestions are
provided for sending negative messages on routine business matters, sending negative employment
messages, and sending negative organizational news.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
Using the Three-Step Writing Process for Negative Messages
Step 1: Planning Negative Messages
Step 2: Writing Negative Messages
Step 3: Completing Negative Messages
Using the Direct Approach for Negative Messages
Open with a Clear Statement of the Bad News
Provide Reasons and Additional Information
Close on a Respectful Note
Refusing Claims and Requests for Adjustment
Sending Negative Employment Messages
Refusing Requests for Recommendations
Refusing Social Networking Recommendation Requests
Rejecting Job Applications
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TEACHING NOTES
Using the Three-Step Process for Negative Messages
When delivering negative messages, you have five main goals:
1. To convey the bad news
3. To maintain as much goodwill as possible with your audience
5. To reduce or eliminate the need for future correspondence on the matter (if appropriate)
Apply the three-step writing process to produce effective negative messages.
Step 1: Planning Negative Messages
With a clear purpose and your audience’s needs in mind, identify and gather the information
your audience will need in order to understand and accept your message.
Selecting the right medium is critical. Bad news for employees should be delivered in person
whenever possible.
To help decide whether to use the direct or indirect approach, consider these questions:
• Do you need to get the reader’s attention immediately?
• Does the recipient prefer a direct style of communication?
• How important is this news to the reader?
• Will the bad news come as a shock?
Step 2: Writing Negative Messages
By writing clear and sensitive messages, you can take some of the sting out of bad news and help
your reader accept the decision and move on.
Establish your credibility and lay out your qualifications for making the decision.
Using the Direct Approach for Negative Messages
When using the direct approach, a negative message should:
• Open with a clear statement of the bad news.
• Proceed to the reasons and additional information for the negative decision.
• Close on a positive note aimed at maintaining a good relationship.
Should you apologize when delivering bad news or responding to negative situations? The
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pin down. To some people, it simply means an expression of sympathy that something negative
has happened to another person. To others, it can mean admitting fault and, if appropriate, taking
responsibility for specific compensations or corrections to atone for the mistake. Some experts
have advised that a company should never apologize, even when it knows it has made a mistake,
because the apology might be taken as a confession of guilt that could be used against the
company in a lawsuit.
If you do decide to include an apology, follow these guidelines:
Using the Indirect Approach for Negative Messages
The indirect approach eases your audience into your message by explaining your reasons before
delivering the bad news.
When using the indirect approach, a negative message opens with a buffer.
A buffer is a neutral, non-controversial statement that is closely related to the point of the message.
Buffers establish common ground with your reader. A good buffer should be relevant and sincere.
Provide reasons and additional information when giving your reasons for the bad news:
By presenting your reasons effectively, you should convince your audience that your negative
decision is justified, fair, and logical.
Continue with a clear statement of the bad news. You can use three techniques to convey the
negative information as clearly and as kindly as possible:
1. Deemphasize bad news by:
2. If appropriate, use a conditional (if or when) statement to imply that readers might
someday receive a favorable answer.
3. Emphasize what you did, can, or will do (not what you didn’t, can’t, or won’t do).
Close the message in a manner that respects the impact the negative news is likely to have on the
recipient. Look for opportunities to include positive statements, but avoid creating false hopes.
Whatever type of conclusion you use, follow these guidelines:
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• Avoid an uncertain conclusion.
• Manage future correspondence.
• Express optimism, if appropriate.
• Be sincere.
Sending Negative Messages on Routine Business Matters
On occasion, managers need to make unexpected announcements of a negative nature. Although
such announcements happen in the normal course of business, they are generally unexpected.
The indirect approach is usually the better choice. Follow the steps outlined for indirect
messages:
Managers often must also reject both solicited and unsolicited proposals and suggestions, from
internal and external sources. For an unsolicited proposal from an external source, you may not
even need to respond if you don’t already have a working relationship with the sender.
If you need to reject a proposal that you solicited, you owe the sender an explanation, and
because the news will be unexpected, the indirect approach is better. Take care and be tactful in
order to maintain a positive working relationship.
When refusing requests for information, use the direct or the indirect approach, depending on your
relationship with the reader.
The direct approach will work best for most routine negative messages. The indirect approach
works best when the stakes are high for you or the receiver, when you or your company has an
established relationship with the person making the request, or when you’re forced to decline a
request that you might have said yes to in the past.
Consider the following points as you develop your routine negative messages:
Bad news messages about transactions have three goals:
• To modify the customer’s expectations regarding the transaction.
When refusing claims and requests for adjustment, the indirect approach is often best.
When refusing claims, you should:
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• Rationally explain why you’re refusing the request.
• End the letter on a respectful and action-oriented note.
Defamation is a false statement that damages someone’s character or reputation:
• Written defamation is called libel.
• Spoken defamation is called slander.
Someone suing for defamation must prove that:
• The statement is false.
To avoid being accused of defamation, follow these guidelines:
• Avoid abusive language.
• Provide accurate information and stick to the facts.
• Never let anger or malice motivate your messages.
Sending Negative Employment Messages
To send effective negative employment messages:
• Be aware that recipients have an emotional stake in these messages, so the indirect
If you are in a position to write a recommendation but choose not to, here are several options:
• Disqualify yourself.
When refusing social networking recommendation letters, it is wise to consider the following
implications:
• The endorsements you give become part of your online profile.
• Recommendations you make in a social network become part of your personal brand.
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Fortunately, social networks give you a bit more flexibility when it comes to responding to these
requests. You can:
• Simply ignore or delete the request.
• Refrain from making recommendations at all and just let people know this policy when
they ask.
If you choose to make recommendations and want to respond to a request, you can write as much
or as little information about the person as you are comfortable sharing.
When delivering bad news to job applicants:
• Personalize the message by using the recipient’s name.
The main goals of a performance review are to improve employee performance by:
• Clarifying job requirements
When giving a negative performance review, remember these guidelines:
• Base your evaluation on concrete, documented evidence.
• Don’t focus on just the negative.
• Make it a conversation, not a lecture.
The general guidelines to remember when preparing termination messages include the following:
• Clearly present the reasons for this difficult action.
• Make sure the reasons are presented in a way that cannot be construed as unfair or
discriminatory.
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• Be prepared for questions that the employee is likely to have.
• Avoid surprises.
• If there are legitimately positive aspects to the decision, share those with the employee.
Sending Negative Organizational News
Bad news about company operations may be required in at least three situations:
• Changes that negatively affect one or more groups
When communicating negative announcements about company operations, do the following:
• Match your approach to the situation.
• Consider the unique needs of each group.
• Minimize the element of surprise whenever possible.
Responding to Negative Information in a Social Media Environment
For all the benefits they bring to business, social media and other communication technologies
have created a major new challenge: responding to online rumors, false information, and attacks
However, false rumors and both fair and unfair criticisms can spread around the world in a
matter of minutes. Responding to rumors and countering negative information require an
ongoing effort and case-by-case decisions about which messages require a response. Follow
these four steps:
1. Engage early and often with communities of stakeholders as a long-term strategy.
Companies that do so are less likely to be attacked unfairly online and more likely to survive
such attacks if they do occur.
2. Monitor the conversation to listen to what people are saying.
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THE FUTURE OF COMMUNICATION: AUGMENTED REALITY AND VIRTUAL
REALITY
Augmented reality and virtual reality (VR) are two intriguing technologies that are starting to
change the way employees perform a variety of job tasks, from training to research and
development to customer service. Augmented reality provides a layer of digital information that
enhances the immediate physical reality a person sees. For example, using an augmented reality
OVERCOMING DIFFICULTIES STUDENTS OFTEN FACE
Post the three-step process in a prominent position to remind students that they should complete
all three steps for effective negative messages.
Students often have difficulty saying no. Many will lack real business experience in conveying
bad news. Thus, they may not want to take a stand and may skirt an issue rather than give official
generate a short phrase of explanation followed by the bad news, resulting in no buffer at all.
Provide plenty of exercises in which students write buffers for various situations. During in-class
writing, suggest that students leave some space for a buffer if they can’t think of a logical one
right away. Encourage them to compose some of the details or explanation and then go back to
add an effective buffer.
Once a buffer is presented, some students will immediately proceed to the bad news at the
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.
Beginning writers often include more negative words than are necessary in a negative letter.
Remind students to state things in a positive way. Be sure to call attention to Table 8.1 to review
positive and negative words.
Once the reasons are explained, students face the challenge of presenting the actual bad news.
Discuss handling the bad news by deemphasizing it visually and grammatically, using a
conditional statement (if appropriate), and saying what you did or can do rather than what you
didn’t or can’t do. Again, remind students to use as few negative words as possible. Refer them
SUGGESTED CLASSROOM EXERCISES
1. Learning how businesspersons convey negative messages. Invite someone from the business
community (or a school administrator) to visit the class and share how he or she handles
2. Comparing the direct and indirect approaches. Lead a discussion of how people react to bad
3. Analyzing messages. Provide students with examples of negative messages that should be
organized using the indirect approach, but are not. Have students critique the examples and
4. Writing effective buffers. Conduct a discussion related to writing effective buffers. Assign an
exercise in which students write just the buffer for various negative messages. Provide your
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situation.
5. Writing effective closing paragraphs. Conduct a discussion related to writing effective
6. Writing negative messages. As class exercises, assign case scenarios in which students plan,
write, and complete a variety of negative messages. Students should work at computers (if
available) to facilitate writing, rewriting, and editing. Direct students to complete the
7. Providing constructive feedback to classmates. During a class discussion, generate a list of
evaluation points that can be used to provide a writer feedback about negative messages. Ask
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
8-1. The five general goals in delivering bad news are to (1) convey the bad news, (2) gain
8-3. When organizing a negative message using the direct approach, open with the bad news.
8-4. Answers to starred discussion items not provided.
8-5. Four options for declining a request to provide someone with a recommendation are to
8-6. Answers to starred discussion items not provided.
APPLY YOUR KNOWLEDGE
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8-19. Since the smartphone was immersed in water, it cannot be replaced. We will, however, be
8-20. Some barriers to communication contained in this letter are the following:
2. The pertinent information is scattered throughout the letter rather than appearing in a
list.
4. The “charge” for the tubs of ice with soft drinks is not specified in the letter.
6. The letter includes neither specific information about dates nor a callback number.
Here’s one version of the revised letter:
CAREFREE CATERING
1449 Webster Blvd., Athens, GA 30601
Voice: 706-288-3022 Fax: 706-288-2222
April 20, 2019
Mr. Tom Landon, Social Chairman
Zeta Tau Omega Fraternity
220 Gaines Commons
Athens, GA 30601
Dear Mr. Landon:
Thank you for asking us to cater your spring party. By working together, we can make it
a great success. Some of the services and estimated charges are listed below so that you
can review them with your committee.
• Table and chair rental/delivery (approximately 10/100) $200
• Food (approximately 100 @ $7.50 for Texas BBQ) $750
• Table and chair set-up $100
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.
8-21. A possible buffer would be: “Thank you for contacting us about the data charges on your
8-22. This letter is not audience-centered, and emphasizes the negative rather than the positive.
It suffers from these additional problems:
1. The letter fails to thank the reader for writing. The writer sounds irritated that the reader
3. The letter delivers information about the warranty in a negative way.
5. Instructions for the reader are scattered throughout the letter, rather than appearing in a
list.
6. The tone is presumptuous.
Here’s a revised version:
ESSEX ELECTRONICS
1711 Chicago St.,
Omaha, Nebraska 68101
(800) 644-8333 / (402) 592-3388
Fax: (402) 592-3388 / www.essexel.com
January 7, 2019
Mr. Satoshi Kim
Kim Consulting, Inc.
305 West Military Avenue, #3
Fremont, NE 68025
Dear Mr. Kim:
Thank you for contacting us about issues you have encountered with your WM39Z
wireless hub. We would be pleased to repair it under the terms of the warranty. Please
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form, complete with your credit card number and signature.
8-23. Although the company will want to buffer the bad news, readers should learn of the higher
rates in the body of the message, not the close. Students may suggest using a single
8-24. This message is going to top executives who need clear, concise information, so use the
direct approach. Open with a statement of mutual agreement. Get right to the bad news, but
let it lead smoothly into your positive focus on cost saving. Appeal to your reader’s
company loyalty, leaving job preservation as an unspoken benefit. Use bulleted lists, and
close with a positive look to the future.
Meeting Services department.
We’d like to pass on some suggestions we’ve brainstormed to help you curb travel expenses
without cutting into your meeting productivity—and thus help Black & Decker weather the
current economic storm.
BEFORE YOUR TRIP:
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• Let us know if you frequently visit the same location, which will give us a negotiating
edge with hotels, based on your repeat business.
DURING YOUR TRIP:
• Choose less expensive dining options when not entertaining.
• Gas up rental cars before returning them (to avoid inflated agency prices).
• Compose email offline during hotel stays (to avoid phone surcharges).
• Use your imagination to save, save, save.
8-25. The letter opens by stating the bad news. Reasons for the rejection could soften the bad
news, but they don’t appear until later in the letter. The reasons presented in the second
paragraph are minimal and lack sufficient information for the reader’s company to succeed
(770) 743-8211
July 15, 2019
Pamela Wilson, Operations Manager
Sterling Manufacturing
133 Industrial Avenue
Gary, IN 46403
Dear Ms. Wilson: