Discussiion: Actions for 'Negative Messages'

Delivering bad news is never easy to do. However, there was a time when I had to deliver a negative message to potential employee. As Bowman (2002) states, I used a general structure and paced the opening by mentioning something about the subject that the reader could agree with. The letter was about letting an applicant know we were not choosing him for the position, we were going with another applicant. I wanted to have a relaxed style of writing, rather than a rigid letter. Using an indirect structure is what made the letter effective by buffering the opening to prepare the reader for the bad news that followed (Pearson, 2015d). Listing a person's strengths has always been an effective way to lead into the rest of the letter (Pearson, 2015d). What lessened the letter was the fact that I was new in the position, but I failed to give a clear explanation why we went with the other applicant.(Bowman, 2002). The letter was able to achieve the goal of conveying the unpleasant news by being straightforward and keeping the tone respectful and closed the letter with a positive note (Pearson, 2015d).