StrategicManagerialCommunication

WeekOne: DeliveringBadNews

“Bad news isn’t wine. It doesn’t get better with age.”

ColinPowell

Context and Purpose

Delivering bad news poses multiple communication challenges. On one hand, some are often compelled to deliver bad news in the “least painful” way possible, but at times this can create an unclear and indirect message that only serves to confuse. On the other hand, some can be brutally honest, refusing to sacrifice their clarity for empathetic or tone-sensitive language, thus causing a perception of cold and uncaring. The process of delivering bad or unsettling news, especially as a manager, can be a prime opportunity to assess one’s communication effectiveness and skillset.

Assignment Overview

This assignment has two parts. In the first part, you are not authorized to use any AI-assisted tools to help you create your deliverables. We are attempting to gauge your natural communication style and provide you personalized feedback that is relevant to you. Part II (see below) will utilize AI-assistance (ChatGPT). As always, any authorized use of AI-tools in this course are designed to optimize your learning experiences and outcomes while helping you develop real AI expertise.

For both parts of this assignment, you will assume the role of Sam Dawkins, Human Resource Manager at Rizeo, a moderate-size manufacturing organization that produces plastic storage containers. This (fictitious) organization is located in rural Kentucky and employs 1,100 full-time employees.

PartI

After a series of meetings, Rizeo’s leadership team decided a change needed to be made to employee benefits storeducecostasanattempttooffsetconsistentdownyearsinproductionand a declining market. Communicating benefit changesof this nature are particularly difficult, as the topic can become very personal to both the writer and the receiver. Your goal is to write a document (format of your choosing) thatpersuasively communicates the benefit change to employeesinawaythatreducesresistanceandincreasesunderstandingfortherationale.

Scenario: To reduce expenses, your organization has elected to keep their current health insurance provider, but eliminate their use of the most popular plan, that included a lower deductible. The old plan had a $1,500.00 deductible, whereas the new plan has a 3,000 dollar deductible. This change, while one of many made by the organization, is projected to save the company a large but unspecified amount of money (effective first of the year).

Receivers: Like any manufacturing plant, Rizeo has a diverse group of employees. Yet, statistically, the largest group of employees falls within the 50-64 year old demographic. Rumors are circling that some employees will quit if this change is made, but leadership believes that limited employer alternatives in the small rural town make this outcome unlikely. To make matters more complicated, your parent company, who purchased the plant without any immediate changes last year, is rumored to be making an unannounced visit to conduct a comprehensive survey of employee engagement and the plant’s culture.

Connections to Course Content. Students should read all Week One Readings and complete the Week One Module prior to beginning this assignment. After, students should strategize and design their message to be goal-oriented and receiver- centric (see reading). The message should also integrate and will be evaluating using the five communication competencies: professionalism, clarity, conciseness, evidence-driven, and persuasiveness.

The following are common questions (and answers) about this particular assignment:

• Howlong?Thereisnopagerequirementforthisassignment.Yourlengthshould bedependent upon your goals as acommunicator and thereceivers you address.
• What to include?The decision about what to include or not include is at the author’sdiscretion.Youdohavesomecreativelibertiesondetailsnotincluded here,butanydetailscreatedcannotundothesignificanceofthemessage(e.g., youcannotsay,“thischangeisjusttemporaryand thusitwillgoawaysoon”).
• Formatrequirements?Specificformattingrequirementsaresparse(e.g.,nofont restrictions, page layouts, etc.); however, it may be helpful to think about this document as an attachment that would be included in a mass email to the entire company.Youcanuseanyprogramtocreatethis(e.g.,MicrosoftWord),butyou areaskedtouploadaPDFversion(toensureformatisthesameonBlackboard).

PartII

After completing Part I of this assignment, you will be asked to conduct a brief role-playing exercise that will simulate possible responses to your message. To complete Part II, please access: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-67aa3bdf6a308191946e3ddb1fe67f63-delivering-bad-news

Upon clicking the link above, you will be prompted to log in (if you do not have a ChatGPT account already, please create one – for free – using one of the several account creation options). After logging in, please follow the instructions. You will need to upload your submission and begin the exercise. We strongly encourage you to use “Voice Mode” to simulate real-time responses and feedback that you could anticipate if your message was distributed to the targeted receivers (please note that if you are using the free version “Voice Mode” is only available on the mobile app). Once you complete the Role Play exercise, you will need to share your conversation in one of two ways:

Option 1: Place your cursor at the beginning of the conversation, then click and drag to the bottom of your discussion. Copy and paste conversation into Blackboard text box when uploading Part I.

Option 2: Create a shareable link of your conversation by selecting “Share icon” located at the top right of your screen (top center of your screen if using the app). Copy and insert the link into Blackboard text box when uploading Part I.

Submission Requirements

AllmaterialsmustbesubmittedviaBlackboard.Emailedsubmissionstoyourinstructorcannot beaccepted.Your work must be submitted by the assigned deadline.A25%deduction will be automatically assessed for any assignments submitted within 24 hoursafterthe deadline.

After 24 hours, all late/unsubmitted work will receive a 0. Students are strongly encouraged to upload work early to prevent submission errors, especially for the first few weeks of class.

Evaluation

Evaluation will be assessed based on the criteria outlined above and the quality of the work presented. Rubrics for professionalism, clarity, conciseness, use of evidence and persuasiveness is provided on Blackboard for review and will be used for evaluation of work. Good luck!