Bad News Memo or E-Mail
On the TV show The Apprentice Donald Trump looked to relish announcing you're fired to losing contestants. However most employers recoil from having to tell employees that they will be downsized. To make a difficult job calmer, managers sometimes utilize plain language, euphemisms and jargon to evade bluntly announcing that someone has been fired or laid off. In fact decreases have generated new words like rightsizing and re-engineering.
Regardless of the language today's economic nose-dive forces organizations to tell employees that they will be losing their jobs by highlighting what is best for the company? At e-Bay, 1,500 employees lost their jobs in a program of employee simplification. At Yahoo the CEO elucidated layoffs as a way for the company to become more fit.
No matter how you look at it people are concerned about losing their jobs and those who remain are concerned about whether the company will stay in business.
Experts differ on how to reveal possible workforce reductions. Should managers disclose the news indirectly and quietly? Or should they use the direct approach and announce loudly that they are taking forceful action to strengthen the organization in a dour economy? Some say that executives should use bland language to minimize the public relations fallout from mass firings. Vague explanations and even corporate jargon may be appropriate to reduce the negative effect on remaining employees and on recruiting new employees when the economy rebounds. Opaque language and euphemisms may lessen the impact of layoffs.
Accept you work in the human resource department of Bright Wave Technology a high-tech firm that has decided to lay off 10 percent of its workforce to preserve profitability. Although every department has participated in cost-cutting measures, expenses endure to mount, and sales aren't where they should be.
Your boss Shirley Schmidt has inquired you to draft an e-mail that goes to the staff whose jobs are untouched by the layoffs. The goal is to promise key employees that management is in control of the situation. You need to highlight that Bright Wave maintains a strong strategic vision and that management is convinced of the firm's rosy future in the tech industry. Still layoffs are essential to make the company more financially stable. Ever aware of its people, Bright Wave is taking all likely measures to assist those who have lost their jobs. These reductions will assistance make the firm stronger, says Schmidt.
Assignment Instructions- Draft an e-mail from Shirley Schmidt, director, Employee Relations, Bright Wave Technology. In addressing remaining employees your message must elucidate the bad news and strive to preserve employee morale. Decide whether to utilize the direct or indirect approach. Apply as many concepts as possible from the readings. After you've written the letter, define how you used the ideas from the readings. The paper must be 3 to 5 pages in length