Often in business, individuals and organizations are called on to deliver bad news and/or apologize for mistakes and mishaps. No matter your field, you will need to understand the rhetoric around "bad news messaging."

For this assignment, you and your classmates will discuss a case in-depth. Our case will be the memo to employees of Nokia Devices and Services, by VP Stephen Elop.

Often in business, individuals and organizations are called on to deliver bad news and/or apologize for mistakes and mishaps. No matter your field, you will need to understand the rhetoric around "bad news messaging."

For this assignment, you and your classmates will discuss a case in-depth. Our case will be the memo to employees of Nokia Devices and Services, by VP Stephen Elop.

Microsoft lay off

Drawing from the analysis conducted as a class, individually write your own rhetorical analysis of the bad news message.

You have been hired as an external consultant by Microsoft HR Director, Ms. Debbie Smith, to assess the quality of their bad news messaging in this particular instance, and to offer suggestions for future similar bad news messaging. Assume that this is 2 weeks after the Elop email was sent, prior to people being let go. You may include quotes from the original e-mail (APA format is not necessary).

Write a 1.5-2 page memo to HR that analyzes the effectiveness of the organization's bad news rhetoric and provides some recommendations for improvement in bad news messaging. Be sure to use bold headings, left justify, and single space with double space between sections/paragraphs.

Remember that introductions and conclusions do not require headings.