Carlos Felix, a printing company sales manager, must tell one of his clients that the payroll checks her company ordered are not going to be ready by the date Carlos had promised. The printing company’s job scheduler overlooked the job and didn’t get the checks into production in time to meet the deadline. As a result, Carlos’s client, a major insurance company, is going to miss its pay run.

Carlos meets with internal department heads. They decide on the following plan to remedy the situation:

(a) move the check order to the front of the production line;

(b) make up for the late production date by shipping some of the checks—enough to meet their client’s immediate payroll needs—by air freight;

(c) deliver the remaining checks by truck.

Your Task. Form groups of three or four students. Discuss the following issues about how to present the bad news to Jeanine Pradip, Carlos’s contact person at the insurance company.

a. Should Carlos call Jeanine directly or delegate the task to his assistant?

b. When should Jeanine be informed of the problem?

c. What is the best procedure for delivering the bad news?

d. What follow-up would you recommend to Carlos?

Be prepared to share your group’s responses during a class discussion. Your instructor may ask two students to role-play the presentation of the bad news, and request that you write a follow-up message to Jeanine.