Writing for the Workplace

CHAPTER 4

Persuasive and Bad News Messages

Not all workplace communication delivers good or routine news to an audience happy (or at least willing) to hear from the writer. In the workplace, organizations must often convey messages that the audience may not wish to hear. Some of these messages require persuasion to accomplish their purpose. Other times, these messages must deliver unwelcome news in a way that is digestible to the reader. Both of these situations demand a different writing approach than the direct strategy we have discussed.

In general, an indirect strategy is used when the reader may feel uninterested, displeased, disappointed, or hostile about the message.¹ For example, customers may be less than interested in reading unsolicited ...