Writing Negative Messages

Negative messages should not necessarily be considered bad. Negative messages, if expressed correctly could do positive changes in a business. For example, you are aware that production in the past month was decreasing due to uncommon mistakes; obviously you want to pick up production toward the increasing direction, so you must notify the employees of the bad news of the previous month. 

When sending a negative message, the three step writing process applies here also. There are five goals when writing a negative message. The goals are (1) give the bad news, (2) ensure acceptance of the bad news, (3) maintain readers good will, (4) maintain the company’s good image, and (5) eliminate future correspondence on the matter. There are three important aspects to keep in mind when writing a negative message. The first, one is to determine if you want to take a direct approach or an indirect approach. Second, you should be sensitive to different cultures and different audiences. Third, maintain a high ethical standard. There are six questions to ask when deciding whether to use a direct or in direct approach to convey a message. They are (1) will the bad news come as a shock? (2) does the audience prefer short messages that get to the point? (3) how important is this news to the audience (4) do you need to maintain a close working relationship with the audience? (5) do u need to get the audience attention? And (6) what is the organization’s preferred style? You should use the direct approach when your negative answer or information will have a minimal personal impact, and use the indirect approach when some preparation will help your audience accept your bad news. A direct message has three steps, bad news, reasons, and a positive close. An indirect message has four steps, buffering, reason, bad news, and a positive close. Either approach you use, make sure you end on a positive note. By avoiding a negative or uncertain conclusion, limiting future correspondence, being optimistic about the future, and by being sincere, are all ways in ending a negative message in a positive note.