Developing Negative Messages
When choosing between the direct and indirect approach for negative messages, consider the following questions:
Will the bad news come as a shock?
Does the reader prefer short messages that get right to the point?
How important is this news to the audience?
Do you need to maintain a close working relationship with the audience?
Do you need to get the audience’s attention?
What is your organization’s preferred style?
Buffer---->Reasoning---->Bad News----> Positive closer
A buffer is a neutral, noncontroversial statement that is closely related to the point of the message:
It establishes common ground with your reader.
It validates the request (if you’re responding to one).
A good buffer is relevant and sincere and also:
Expresses your appreciation for being considered
Assures the reader of your attention to the request
Indicates your understanding of the reader’s needs
A poorly written buffer:
Trivializes the reader’s concerns
Diverts attention from the problem with insincere flattery or irrelevant material
Misleads readers into thinking your message actually contains some good news
Once you’ve written your buffer, evaluate it by asking four questions:
Is it respectful?
Is it relevant?
Is it neutral (implying neither yes nor no)?
Does it provide for a smooth transition to the reasons that follow?
An effective buffer serves as a stepping-stone to the next part of your message, in which you build up the explanations and information that will culminate in your negative news.
Ideally, your explanation section leads the audience to your negative conclusion before you
come right out and say it.
When giving your reasons for the bad news,
Start with the more positive points first before moving to the increasingly negative ones
Provide enough detail for your audience to understand your reasons
Be concise
By presenting your reasons effectively, you should convince your audience that your negative decision is justified, fair, and logical.
In some cases, you can use the explanation section to suggest how the bad news might in fact benefit your reader, but be careful that you don’t insult your reader.
Avoid hiding behind company policy to cushion your bad news.
Three techniques for stating bad news clearly and kindly:
De-emphasize the bad news.
Use a conditional (if or when) statement to imply that readers might someday receive a favorable answer.
Tell your audience what you did, can, or will do (not what you didn’t, can’t, or won’t do).
De-emphasize bad news by
Minimizing the space or time devoted to it
Subordinating it in a complex or compound sentence
Embedding it in the middle of a paragraph or using parenthetical expressions
Even when implying the bad news, be sure your audience understands that it is indeed negative:
Withholding negative information or overemphasizing the positive is unethical and unfair.
When an implied message might leave doubt, state the bad news in direct terms (avoiding overly blunt language that may cause pain or anger).
To write an effective close, follow these guidelines:
i)Avoid a negative or uncertain conclusion.
ii)Limit future correspondence.
iii)Be optimistic about the future.
iv)Be sincere.
Even though bad news is unwelcome in any language, the conventions for passing it on to business associates can vary from country to country; for example:
French writers take a direct approach.
Japanese writers protect their readers’ feelings by wording the bad news ambiguously.
Use the tone, organization, and other cultural conventions that your audience expects.
Giving bad news to internal audiences differs from giving it to external audiences:
Two internal groups can interpret news differently
Employees expect to be offered more detail and to be told before the public.
When writing negative messages to outside audiences, you should consider
The diverse nature of the audience
The confidentiality of the internal information
When sending bad news, you have the ethical obligation to
Communicate the information clearly and completely
Communicate the information promptly
Minimize the negative impact of your negative messages
All business messages must pass standards of ethics and etiquette; however, delivering bad news takes on special consideration for the following reasons:
A variety of laws and regulations dictate the content and delivery of many business messages
with potentially negative comment.
Negative messages can have a significant negative impact on the lives of those receiving them.
Emotions often run high when negative messages are involved.
It is unethical and perhaps illegal to delay, downplay or distort bad news.
Effectively sharing bad news within an organization requires commitment from everyone involved.
Employees must commit to sending negative messages when necessary and to doing so in a timely fashion, even when that is unpleasant or difficult. Managers must commit to maintaining open communication channels, truly listening when employees have negative information to share, and not punishing employees who deliver bad news.
Whistleblowers are employees who observe unethical or illegal behavior within their companies and are unable to resolve the problems through normal channels may have no choice but to resort to expressing their concerns through company ethics hot lines or even going to the news media if they perceive no other options.
Recognize that some negative news scenarios will test your self-control and tempt you to respond with a personal attack. Remember that negative messages can have a lasting impact on the people who receive them and the people who send them. Remember that you have a responsibility to minimize the negative impact of your negative messages through careful planning and sensitive, objective writing.
From: Chapter 9, Bovee,C.,L., & Thill,J.,V.(2008). 10th ed. Business Communication Today. New Jersey:Prentice Hall
