You may worry that the indirect organizational strategy is unethical and manipulative, but the alternative—breaking the news bluntly—can cause pain and hard feelings. Fill in the blank with the most appropriate answer.

Your goal in using the indirect strategy is to be.

Printing and copying costs have skyrocketed at your company, and the company will begin charging employees for all hard copies of documents related to internal use. The message informing employees of this change uses an indirect approach and focuses on the environmental benefits of going paperless.

Is the sender using an indirect approach in an ethical or unethical manner?

a. Ethical
b. Unethical

At some point, everyone will have to deliver bad news. The bad feelings associated with this type of message can be alleviated if the receiver knows the reason for the bad news, feels the news is revealed sensitively, thinks the matter is treated seriously, and believes that the decision is fair. When applying these strategies, make sure to follow the writing process and determine whether to use a direct or an indirect pattern in your message. Determine what strategy should be used in the following situation?

You are demoting an employee to avoid laying them off.

a. Indirect
b. Direct