Twin Brothers Organization Bad News Memo
Assignment: Write a letter of bad news where you are informing the reader that you are denying them a position within your company. You need to use the indirect approach, which was discussed in class and in the textbook. Do NOT use the direct approach.
Parameters: Times New Roman 12-point font 1-inch margins Line spacing must be 1.5 (as in NOT single and NOT double-spaced). You may add an extra space between paragraphs if you want.
Signature Block: You must also include at the end a detailed signature block with: 1) your actual name 2) your fictional job title 3) your fictional company’s name.
You also need to actually sign your name a.k.a. give your actual signature in a blank space you create just above your typed signature block on the printed-out document you turn in.
Needed Info: Address the letter to Mark Johnson. Then choose to include what you believe is the most relevant, important info from the following prompt while excluding from your bad news letter whatever info you feel is unnecessary and should not be included, based on what you have learned from the textbook and lecture:
Mark Johnson has 12 years of experience in the specific field of work discussed in the job posting. He also has a Master’s degree. He has applied for the position of regional director. He has already advanced through 3 phases of the interview process. He first submitted an online application packet. He was then selected for an online video messaging interview, and he was then selected as one of the 3 finalists to fly in and tour your company where he met with you and two other relevant hiring personnel, Julie Coltson and William Debres, face-to-face just last week on Wednesday.
You enjoyed meeting with Mr. Johnson and believe him to be a fine applicant, but he was not chosen because while you deemed him to be the 2nd best of the 3 finalists (which also makes him the 2nd best of the 134 applicants who applied for the position), the other applicant who was hired had 7 years more experience in the specific field and had graduated from a more prestigious university.
Important: Do NOT simply recreate word-for-word the sample in the textbook.
Copying this and simply changing a few words around by adding your name and so on is plagiarism and will be treated as such by you earning a 0 for the assignment and additional steps taken with reporting the conduct to the university.
The exact wording used in the sample does not constitute the one and only correct way to write a bad news letter. There are in fact countless creative ways to do so, just as long as the indirect approach is used and you remember the various elements expressed in class and in the textbook.
