Word has just come down from Day Pharmaceuticals' headquarters, and it is not good. Financial reports from the last few quarters have been disappointing, and for that reason top management had been pinning their hopes on a top-secret experimental medication called Wonderall. Clinical trials have been promising, and prospects were looking good for an introduction to the general market later in the year, but now the company heads have learned that the Food & Drug Administration will delay approval for an additional six months due to questions about the medication's side-effects. As chief operations officer, Rachel is tasked with getting this message out to employees in the most effective way. She is weighing various ideas about how to do this. Among her considerations is a large town

Question

hall-style group meeting that would bring together the entire company (which is mostly concentrated in a single location) or a smaller meeting involving just the top management. There are other possibilities as well. The best way for Rachel to convey the disappointing news is to

A) send out an e-mail because that will facilitate communicating a great deal of complicated technical information to the largest number of people at once.
B) put together an informative written packet, which can be distributed to both managers and front-line employees.
C) use the small group meeting format, which will provide her with an opportunity to give managers information that they can pass on to their subordinates.
D) record a video message in which she lays out the bad news and which can be played for managers and employees alike.
E) hold the large group meeting because that will give her an opportunity to immediately address questions raised both by managers and front-line employees.

Answer 1

E) hold the large group meeting because that will give her an opportunity to immediately address questions raised both by managers and front-line employees.
Face-to-face groups generally develop more trust among members, whereas e-mail is most appropriate for routine messages that do not require the exchange of large quantities of complex information. While informing only the top management might seem like a good solution for Rachel, there is a good chance that the information will be distorted through filtering. Given the fact that the company is small enough to bring its entire workforce together in a single location, this is Rachel's best option.