Bad News Email Message Assignment

Bad news messages can follow a different pattern than good news letters: the indirect approach. In all of our writing, we are trying to create goodwill between our readers, ourselves, and our organization. This means that one of the primary goals of a bad news message is to ensure that the reader continues to think well of us. We can write a bad news message in a way that maximizes the chances that this will happen.

Sometimes people like to hear the bad news first. However, in many situations this approach will not help us achieve our purpose. In these cases we need to use a less direct approach.

Using the techniques youve learned in class, write a bad news email addressing the bad news scenario below. Use email format at the header:

From:

To:

Cc:

Subject:

Attached:

Bad News Scenario

You are the project manager for a client project at a small consulting firm. your final presentation to the client is in two weeks. your company typically outsources the creation of the final slides to a graphic design firm in India that it has been working with for several years. The senior managers of your firm have fired the graphic design firm and decided that for financial reasons all teams must produce their own slides until further notice. you must now communicate this decision to the team knowing that they were really counting on having external help on the slides.