1. Pertemuan 9 Writing Negative Messages
Matakuliah : J0012/ Komunikasi Bisnis I
Tahun : 2008
Pertemuan 9 Writing Negative Messages

2. Planning the Message Gather Information Select a Medium Define Your
Main Idea
Analyze the
Situation
Determine
Your Purpose
Profile the
Audience
When planning negative messages, you can’t avoid the fact that your audience does not want to hear what you have to say. To minimize the damage to business relationships and to encourage the acceptance of your message, analyze the situation carefully to better understand the context in which the recipient will process your message.
Be sure to consider your purpose thoroughly—whether it’s straightforward (such as rejecting a job application) or more complicated (such as drafting a negative performance review, in which you not only give the employee feedback on past performance but also help the person develop a plan to improve future performance). Similarly, your audience profile can be simple and obvious in some situations (such as rejecting a credit request) and far more complex in others (such as telling a business partner that you’ve decided to terminate the partnership).
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. Negative messages can be intensely personal to the recipient, and in many cases recipients have a right to expect a thorough explanation of your answer (although this isn’t always the case).
Selecting the right medium is critical. For instance, experts advise that bad news for employees be delivered in person whenever possible, both to show respect for the employees and to give them an opportunity to ask questions.
Defining your main idea in a negative message is often more complicated than simply saying no. For instance, in the case of the hardworking employee who requested a raise, your message might go beyond saying no to explain how she can improve her performance by working smarter, not just harder.
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3. Writing the Message Use the “You” Attitude Build Credibility
Protect Your Company
Avoid Accusations
When you are adapting a negative message to your audience, pay close attention to both effectiveness and diplomacy. Be sure to maintain a “you” attitude, strive for polite language that emphasizes the positive whenever appropriate, and make sure your word choice is without bias.
If your credibility hasn’t already been established with an audience, lay out your qualifications for making the decision in question. Recipients of negative messages who don’t think you are credible are more likely to challenge your decision or reject your message. And as always, projecting and protecting your company’s image is a prime concern; if you’re not careful, a negative answer could spin out of control into negative feelings about your company.
When you use language that conveys respect and avoids an accusing tone, you protect your audience’s pride. This kind of communication etiquette is always important, but it demands special care with negative messages.
Chances are you’ll spend more time on word, sentence, and paragraph choices for negative messages than for any other type of business writing. People who receive negative messages often look for subtle shades of meaning, seeking flaws in your reasoning or other ways to challenge the decision. By writing clearly and sensitively, you can take some of the sting out of bad news and help your reader accept the decision and move on.
Write Clearly
Be Sensitive
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4. Completing the Message
Revising
Producing
Proofreading
Delivering
Your need for careful attention to detail continues as you complete your message. Revise your content to make sure everything is clear, complete, and concise—bearing in mind that even small flaws are magnified as readers react to your negative news. When you produce your message, stick with design and layout options that are clean and professional. People getting bad news will find flowery or playful designs a distraction at best and an insult at worst. Proofreading is important for every message, of course, but even more so for negative messages. Minor mistakes can be interpreted as carelessness—the last thing you need when readers might question your judgment. Finally, be especially sure that your negative messages are delivered promptly and successfully; waiting for bad news is hard enough without wondering whether a message was lost.
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5. Developing Negative Messages
Type of Approach
Cultural Variations
Ethical Standards
As you apply the three-step process to develop negative messages, several key thoughts will help you craft effective messages quickly: First, before organizing the main points of a message, it is vital to choose a direct or an indirect approach. Second, before actually composing your message, be sensitive to variations across cultures or between internal and external audiences. And third, to fulfill the spirit of audience focus, be sure you maintain high ethical standards.
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6. Choosing the Best Approach
Relationship
with Audience
Need for
Attention
Preferred
Style
Follow-Up
Communication
Nature of
the News
Audience
Preferences
Importance
of the News
In your business writing, you'll need choose the direct or indirect approach whenever you deliver bad news; however, there are no clear guidelines to help you choose in every case. Even so, you have to choose one approach or the other, so ask yourself 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 reader?
Do you need to maintain a close working relationship with the reader?
Do you need to get the reader's attention?
What is your organization's preferred style?
How much follow-up communication do you want?
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7. The Direct Approach Bad News Reasons Positive Close Step 1 Step 2
Flow of the Message
Substance of the Message
The key to choosing the best approach for bad-news messages is to analyze audience members first. How will they react to the news? How important is the message? How well do you know them? If you know that your audience is likely to prefer the bad news first, or if the situation is minor and the news will cause your audience little pain or disappointment, use the direct approach.
A bad-news message organized using the direct approach starts with a clear statement of the bad news, proceeds to the reasons for the decision (perhaps offering alternatives), and ends with a positive statement aimed at maintaining a good relationship with the audience. Stating the bad news at the beginning can have two advantages:
1. It makes a shorter message possible.
2. The audience needs less time to reach the main idea of the message.
You may want to use the direct approach in a variety of circumstances, saving your positive comments for the close. Even so, remember that a tactful tone and a focus on reasons will help make any bad-news message easier to accept.
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8. The Indirect Approach Buffer Reasons Bad News Positive Close Step 1
Flow of the Message
Substance of the Message
Beginning a bad news message with a blunt “no” could well prevent people who prefer an explanation first from reading or listening to your reasons. For such audiences, the indirect approach is appropriate. This approach eases the audience into your message by explaining your reasons before giving them the bad news. Presenting the reasons first increases the chances of your gaining audience acceptance by gradually preparing them for the negative news.
The indirect approach follows a four-part sequence:
1. Open with a buffer.
2. Continue with a logical, neutral explanation of the reasons for the news.
3. Follow with a clear but diplomatic statement of the bad news.
4. Close with a positive forward-looking statement.
The next four slides cover this four-part sequence in detail.
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9. Begin With a Buffer Things to Do Things to Avoid Show appreciation
Pay attention
Compliment reader
Be understanding
Show sincerity
Saying “no”
A know-it-all tone
Wordy phrases
Apologies
Lengthy buffers
A good buffer expresses your appreciation for being thought of, assures the reader of your attention to the request, compliments the reader, or indicates your understanding of the reader’s needs. A buffer must not insult the audience with insincere flattery or self-promoting blather. Because it sets the stage for the bad news to follow, it must be both sincere and relevant so that readers don’t feel they are being set up or “snowed.” Here are some other things to avoid when writing a buffer:
Avoid saying “no.” An audience encountering the refusal at the beginning usually reacts negatively to the rest of the message, no matter how reasonable and well phrased it is.
Avoid using a know-it-all tone. When you use phrases such as "you should be aware that," readers expect your lecture to lead to a negative response, so they resist the rest of your message.
Avoid wordy and irrelevant phrases and sentences. Sentences such "We are writing in response to your request" are irrelevant. Make better use of the space by referring directly to the subject of the letter.
Avoid apologizing. Unless warranted by extreme circumstances, an apology only weakens the following explanation of your unfavorable news.
Avoid writing a buffer that is too long. Be brief. Find something that you and your audience can agree on before proceeding in a businesslike way.
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10. Adapting to Your Audience
Cultural
Differences
Internal and
External Audience
Even more than other business messages, negative messages require that you maintain your audience focus and be as sensitive as possible to audience needs. Therefore, you may need to adapt your message to cultural differences or to the differences between internal and external audiences.
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11. Maintain High Standards of Ethics and Etiquette
Laws and Regulations
Human Impact
Emotions
All business messages demand attention to ethics and etiquette of course, but these considerations take on special importance when you are delivering bad news, for several reasons. First, a variety of laws and regulations dictate the content and delivery of many business messages with potentially negative content, such as the release of financial information by a public company. Second, negative messages can have a significant negative impact on the lives of those receiving them. Even if the news is conveyed legally and conscientiously, good ethical practice demands that these situations be approached with care and sensitivity. Third, emotions often run high when negative messages are involved, for both the sender and the receiver. Senders not only need to manage their own emotions but also to consider the emotional state of their audiences.
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12. Types of Negative Messages
Routine Matters
Organizational News
Employment Issues
In the course of your business career, you will write various types of bad-news messages, from refusing credit to giving negative performance reviews. Many of the messages that you’ll be writing will probably fall into three major categories: negative answers to routine requests, negative organizational news, and negative employment messages.
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13. Negative Organizational News
Normal
Circumstances
Crisis
Communication
The length and complexity of persuasive messages make applying Step 3 even more crucial to your success. When you evaluate your content, try to judge your argument objectively and seriously appraise your credibility. When revising for clarity and conciseness, carefully match the purpose and organization to audience needs.
Your design elements must complement (not detract from) your argument. In addition, make sure your delivery methods fit your audience’s expectations as well as your purpose. Finally, meticulous proofreading will identify any mechanical or spelling errors that would weaken your persuasive message.
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14. Normal Circumstances Match the Approach to the Situation
Consider Unique Needs of Each Group
Give Each Group Time to Respond
Plan a Sequence of Announcements
Seek Expert Advise If You’re Not Sure
Plan for and Manage a Response
Stay Positive, But Also Be Realistic
Minimize the Element of Surprise
When making negative announcements, follow these guidelines:
Match your approach to the situation.
Consider the unique needs of each group.
Give each audience enough time to react as needed.
Plan the sequence of multiple announcements.
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15. Crisis Management Plan
Crisis Communication
Crisis Management Plan
Define Operational
Procedures
Outline Tasks
and Responsibilities
The key to successful communication efforts during a crisis is having a crisis management plan. In addition to defining operational procedures to deal with the crisis itself, the plan also outlines communication tasks and responsibilities, which can include everything from media contacts to news release templates. The plan should clearly specify which people are authorized to speak for the company, contact information for all key executives, and a list of the media outlets and technologies that will be used to disseminate information. Many companies now go one step further by regularly testing crisis communications in realistic practice drills.
Speaking for
the Company
Contacting
Key Executives
Identifying
Media Outlets
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16. Negative Employment Messages
Refusing Requests
for Recommendation
Letters
Rejecting
Job Application
Negative
Performance
Review
Terminating
Employment
The length and complexity of persuasive messages make applying Step 3 even more crucial to your success. When you evaluate your content, try to judge your argument objectively and seriously appraise your credibility. When revising for clarity and conciseness, carefully match the purpose and organization to audience needs.
Your design elements must complement (not detract from) your argument. In addition, make sure your delivery methods fit your audience’s expectations as well as your purpose. Finally, meticulous proofreading will identify any mechanical or spelling errors that would weaken your persuasive message.
Bina Nusantara