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Letter Writing Techniques CheckPoint
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Good-News and Bad-News letters require different strategies to successfully convey information to the recipients. The letters each have three parts, the introduction, which contains the reason for the letter and the discussion, which contains the details, and the conclusion which sums up the information. In the good-news letter the approach is very direct and a paragraph can be devoted to each part of the letter with the conclusion containing information regarding any action that will be taken as a result of the news. In the bad-news letter the approach is less direct. It begins with a neutral, polite and tactful approach in the first paragraph while still presenting the basic facts of the situation surrounding the information or incident. The second paragraph then gives the reason for the letter. The final paragraph holds the same neutral tone as the introduction.
Tone and structure are especially
important in a bad-news letter to avoid offending the recipient. Wording should be carefully chosen to avoid ethics dilemmas or future issues. Writing is by its nature a persuasive form. The writer is trying to get the reader to see the situation from the writer’s perspective. A bad-news letter might be written in the following situation: My company has been told they have to downsize their labor force at all costs. My best choice is to eliminate all temporary employees. I would have to write a letter to each of these employees ending their employment and explaining to them the cause of the termination. I would be clear that they had not caused their own termination and be as tactful as possible in
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this letter. I would offer severance pay, if possible, and offer to write them each a letter of recommendation for future work. Continuation of Benefits Rights Act (COBRA) laws would mandate that insurance benefits be provided for a specific time period and the letter would inform them of their continued benefits. I would end on a positive note saying that an employee of their caliber would be valuable at any other organization.