Rejection letter to Lee Ann. 

The case context

You recently started working for Sportstars, Inc., a business that represents athletes looking to boost their earnings by appearing in commercials, speeches, and other public events, as well as endorsing goods. Sportstars helps in contract negotiations and convinces the sponsor to hire the player. In order to help the customer through difficult circumstances, a lot of handholding is also required. Sportstars receives 20% of the money paid to the athlete for these services.

Your manager highlights the information you already know as part of your orientation: In general, people who win championships receive significantly more fees than someone who is consistently good but has not captured the public’s attention. A well-known athlete can command much higher costs than someone who is less well-known. The main issue, according to your supervisor, is how to handle young athletes. We cannot afford to stand up for the underdogs. We couldn’t afford to spend time on them. But some newcomers will eventually succeed, and when they do, we want to stand up for them. We’ve developed a risk-free method for doing this. When an unidentified person approaches us and requests that we serve as his or her personal representative, we politely decline and recommend a rival firm instead because we are aware of how poorly that firm represents its clients. Then, when the victor separates from the pack, we go up to that individual and offer to be their representative. We can demonstrate that we’ll perform better and that we do. Everyone we spoke with has been signed in this manner.

You have a letter from figure skater Lee Ann Bezazian today. She took third place at the US Championships last time around. She has made the decision to join a professional traveling skating performance and is looking for an agent to handle the endorsement negotiations. She may never be a star, despite being a very excellent skater, according to some research. Sportstar’s rules prohibit you from granting her request.

Create a memo and a letter.

Send Lee Ann a letter of rejection. Think of a considerate strategy to accomplish this that will allow you to work with her in the future.
Send a memo to your supervisor at Sportstars requesting a change in company policy. Be careful to include the following in your memo: (a) a description of the policy that the memo concerns; (b) a courteous and compelling description of the problem; and (c) a presentation of your findings.

your recommendation for changing the policy and the justification behind it (how will changing the policy help your business? Please take note that you are free to utilize fictitious “empirical results” or other data to support your claims or arguments in this document.

BALANCED WORRIES

This case study serves as an example of a typical, complex circumstance that arises in the workplace when generating letters and memoranda that deal with ethical issues. The writer (you) must take into account what is “fair” and “best” for everyone involved in this situation.

E-MAIL TO LEE ANN

A “bad news” letter should be formatted and worded as such, since it is. See the document on “You Approach” tactics you might employ in this letter. Before you write, keep the following in mind:

The prospective customer is Lee Ann. How do you turn down Lee Ann while still leaving the door open for future business? Exactly how

How can you reject her without harming her feelings or career?

The corporation and the CEO How can you support the business while also demonstrating your understanding, compassion, and empathy towards Lee Ann?
the author. You must give Lee Ann justification for the refusal. Write in an honest yet courteous or kind manner if you believe the boss’s justification to be moral. If you don’t think the boss’s justification is moral, think about other ways you could act. Do you have to give Lee Ann the same explanation the boss suggests (which you would consider unethical) or can you provide a different reason that is equally “true” and not made up, and in your opinion more ethical? Do you have any other options, or do you have to take the boss’ advice and guide Lee Ann toward businesses that don’t treat their customers well? Take a stance on this matter that you can live with, that is fair and kind to Lee Ann, and that is also commensurately devoted to your organization.

TO THE BOSS: MEMO

Use the guidelines we outlined for memo writing: Write the top with the “To,” “From,” “Date,” and “Subject” lines; include a statement of intent; carefully choose the specifics; Format the message carefully, then add a pleasant note at the end.

Keep in mind that you, the memo’s author, must detail a current strategy, point out its shortcomings, then suggest a new approach and highlight its advantages, all without offending your supervisor. This is more challenging to complete than you might initially believe due to the following factors:

Potential customers. How could you let the employer know that you disagree with a policy that he definitely supports (and has adhered to without question for years) in order to assist potential clients?
The superior. How do you politely and sensitively persuade the boss that his policy has one or more shortcomings and that an alternative course of action could be preferable? How can you criticize the current policy if you believe it to be unethical without implying that your boss or company may have acted unethically? Or, to put it another way, how can you describe the issue without making the boss believe you are accusing him of acting unethically? The idea behind this is that blaming, accusing, or putting your boss on the defensive is ineffective; instead, memos or other forms of correspondence that approach them respectfully tend to elicit greater responses from readers than those that make personal attacks on them.
The business. How do you demonstrate your dedication to the business while also criticizing a current company policy? How can you persuade your employer that the current policy has harmed or could harm the company? (If you’d like, you can provide fictitious data or information demonstrating that the policy has harmed the company or might do so in the future.)
The author. How can you criticize a company policy while preserving your own employment or status at the organization? Although you are writing to a superior from a rather weak position (you are new and a subordinate), how can you present your argument effectively without seeming in any way weak?