Breaking Bad News: Writing Tips

Bad News Letter – Due 11/14/2012
Unfortunately, there will be times in your career when you have to report bad news to someone. It’s awful to give and awful to hear, but there are certainly better and worse ways to present the message. For this assignment, you will select one of the scenarios below and craft a bad news letter to the fictional recipient.
Scenarios:
1. Write a letter to a very strong job candidate telling them that after much deliberation following three rounds of interviews, a prestigious job at your organization has been filled by someone else. However, you believe there may be a position available for this person in the future with the company, so make sure you leave a positive impression. 2. Write a letter to someone 90 days past due on a debt to your company. You may want to explain to your reader what will happen if payment is not made soon. Consider how the reader feels about the situation and what would be the best technique for getting payment. Remember, if this person files for bankruptcy, your company may get no payment at all. 3. Write a letter to a tenant informing him/her of a lease violation. Be sure to include the specifics of the violation. Remember, this evidence could be important if you later need to evict this person. But be careful of outright attacking the tenant. In the past, your management company has had tenants break leases and trash apartments when there was a disagreement with management. 4. Write a letter to someone who is 30 days past due on a debt to your organization. Think about how this letter might differ from the scenario above where the debt is 90 days past due. 5. Write a letter to a former employee who has recently contacted you and asked you to write a letter of recommendation for him/her. Unfortunately, you ethically cannot recommend this individual for the position he/she is applying for. Quite frankly, the individual was arrogant, unprepared, stubborn, and apathetic. You weren’t sad when s/he left the company and you don’t feel comfortable trying to sell them as an employee to another organization. 6. Write a letter to a subordinate rejecting a recently submitted proposal for opening a new location for your business in his or her native country. You know this proposal was very important to this employee because s/he believed that in time, s/he would be able to move back home to run this facility. You know s/he labored over the details, but unfortunately, it just isn’t a wise business decision. 7. Write a letter to a subordinate to tell them that they have been denied promotion based on their latest performance review. Focus on the problems, not attacking the employee. For example, in what competencies required by the position is the employee lacking? In what areas of his/her job has s/he been performing below standard? Remember that even though you want to protect the employee’s feelings, you need to be explicit in your review – it will be important to have this documentation if the poor performance continues and you need to terminate the employee.

Remember the goals you have when presenting bad news: * Make the decision clear * Help your audience accept the message * Maintain a goodwill relationship * Prevent further unnecessary discussion * Preserve the company’s image * Protect the company from lawsuits. * Be thoughtful of the reader’s feelings * Reject the person, proposal, idea, behavior clearly and explicitly but not in a hurtful manner.
Your letter must be written in the indirect format. This means it will include at least 4 sections (not necessarily 4 paragraphs – could be more or less). You will start with an opening buffer. Your second and third sections will convey the bad news and provide the justification for this bad news. You may choose to put the justification before the bad news if you think that is a better way to present the information. Your fourth section will close the letter on a pleasant note as you try to maintain goodwill between you, the audience, and the organization.
Your letter should be presented in block format. It should be no longer than 1.5 pages long.
This assignment is due at the start of class on Wednesday, November 14th. It is worth 50 points and will be graded based on format, content, organization, and language.
As always, email me or ask me in class if you have any questions.