Read the directions in Chapter 8 on p. 205 and pages 198-200
Situation: You’ve been proud of many things your gardening tool company has accomplished as it grew from just you working in your basement shop to a nationally known company that employs more than 200 people. However, nothing made you prouder than the company’s Helping Our Hometown Grow program, in which employees volunteer on company time to help residents in your city start their own vegetable gardens, using tools donated by the company. Nearly 50 employees participate directly, helping some 500 families supplement their grocery budgets with home-grown produce. Virtually everyone in the company contributed, though, because employees who didn’t volunteer to help in the gardens pitched in to cover the work responsibilities of the volunteers. Sadly, 10 years after you launched the program, you have reached the inescapable conclusion that the company can no longer afford to keep the program going. With consumers around the country still struggling with the aftereffects of a deep recession, sales have been dropping for the past 3 years — even as lower-cost competitors step up their presence in the market. To save the program, you would have to lay off several employees, but your employees come first.
Your task: Write a post for your internal company blog , announcing the cancellation of the program.
Tips: Although this message will be distributed internally, it will still be important to avoid including any comments you would not want the public to see. The primary goals are to prepare employees for the negative reaction that will follow ending the Helping Our Hometown Grow program, and to help them understand the reasons behind your decision.
Down here is the picture from the textbook that it does contains all the information of what a negative message need to include. Basically, you can google about negative messages using indirect approach ( Indirect approach is when the new is unlikely to come as a shock)
Here is the example of a negative message:
Looney Launch Update
April 16, 2015
Hello, everyone:
In the past couple of years, XtremityPlus has retained its top spot in extreme sport products industry with our continuous commitment in providing the best products to our customers. The company would not have made it without all your effort and dedication in your jobs. Particularly, the recent launch of our new extreme products was a success.It has brought in an increase of 15% in our gross profit over the last quarter. The company has been paying generous dividends quarterly to our stockholders. We could not have done it without the strong, collaborative workforce we have here at XtremityPlus.
However, we are now facing a situation. We were notified of a lawsuit by a parent whose child broke several bones after crash-landing off a Looney Launch, our newest product. The lawsuit has taken a toll on our expenses for this year, and unfortunately to protect our stockholders’ investments, we cannot risk additional lawsuits. Moreover, since our products are rated as extreme sports, we take pride in providing our customers the safest products. Our brand image is one of the most reputable brands around. To continue upholding our commitment to the customers, we have the responsibility to act on what we promise. Therefore, we have decided to discontinue Looney Launch to prevent further injuries that it may cause. Because of the huge popularity of Looney Launch, you may encounter some unhappy customers upon delivering the news, but the product is too dangerous to sell in good faith, and we cannot risk our company image.
Even though Looney Launch will no longer be on the market, its sister, Laffy Fly, is a production in progress. Based on the energy,commitment, and work quality our team always brings, we see tremendous potential in Laffy Fly. Since Looney Launch received many positive responses, we believe the customers will love Laffy Fly as well. We will hold a meeting here in the headquarters on May 2nd from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to further discuss future products. Our purpose is to come together as a company to figure out ways to improve the safety of our products in order to continue providing fun and interactive products to our sport enthusiast customers. Our company has asked the customers to be confident about our products, and therefore, a good company image is crucial. We strive to conduct our business with integrity, and I am optimistic about the results we can create with many talented, hardworking and committed individuals in the company.
Sincerely,
CEO
