A business letter giving bad news (or announcement/presentation, etc. in a company about layoffs, or reduced hours, etc.) should be written professionally which means very tactfully, never bluntly/directly. Always imply the bad news, be brief and mention it only once later in the message; generally not up front (depends on the situation sometimes).
This final letter assignment will assess how much you have learned in writing a professional business letter that involves tact/diplomacy and business acumen.
The Situation
Ms. Hamilton, the Personnel Director at Standard Enterprise located at 1300 Wilber Street in Los Angeles, California, 90006, who interviewed you recently for an open position, has extended a job offer to you. You would have jumped at this offer yesterday, but just today you received another offer from a company that you had interviewed with a while back. This new offer promises much higher pay and better benefits, and you love it. Now you must turn down Ms. Hamilton’s offer.
The Assignment
Write a letter to her to let her know that you’re no longer interested in joining her company (imply the bad news, don’t say it directly),, but have decided to accept an offer from another company.
NOTE: Do not use the same words (“…no longer interested…, etc.”) as given in the instructions on the above paragraph as that would not be “implying” the bad news; use tact to give the bad news and only towards the end of the middle paragraph–not necessarily the last sentence of the middle paragraph.
Keep it simple, but make sure to use all the techniques discussed in Chapter 11 for Bad News Messages, my notes in this week’s Updates, and the PowerPoint.
Use the INDIRECT approach; that is, IMPLY the bad new in the second paragraph–don’t directly say “no” or refuse the offer directly. Make sure to use a buffer in the opening of your letter, as explained in this chapter. Points will be deducted for not following the above guidelines.
Opening Paragraph: Start with a buffer statement—something positive or neutral. Use only two to three brief sentences for the opening.
Body of Message or Middle Paragraph: Offer reasons for the bad news—build up to the bad news. Give (here it means imply) the bad news in a clear, brief statement; however, don’t just openly say, “I can’t accept your offer”, that is not implying the bad news. Give the Bad News near the end the middle paragraph with a positive statement. Cushion the bad news. Use no more than six to seven brief sentences in this paragraph.
Closing Paragraph: Write a personal and forward-looking statement that does not repeat the bad news. Restrict this to two sentences at most.
Avoid using words such as “sorry, regret, unfortunately” in your negative letter. Though not in this case, in the business world those words often open up doors to lawsuits as they indicate acknowledgement and confession to some faults by the writer/company/bad-news giver in the eyes of the prosecuting attorneys. THIS APPLIES TO WRITTEN BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS SPECIFICALLY, not for any other types of communication. Keep a bad-news letter simple and brief.
As in your Persuasive Letter, end your letter with Sincerely, then click Enter/Return four times and type your name. The space above will be for your signature space.
NOTE: You can make up your (the sender’s) address, but use the address and the receiver’s name as shown in the instructions;
