MOM & SP DEI CENTER FARIDABAD

The Art Of Apology

Abstract:
Done right, an apology can enhance both reputations and relationships. Done wrong, an apology can compound the original mistake, sometimes to disastrous consequences. Most of us were taught that offering an apology, any apology, when we make a mistake will take care of most offenses. But offering the right apology, particularly in the corporate world, is not as simple as saying, Im sorry.

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Intorduction: Consider, for instance, a senior member of an executive team who became angry when a junior vice president opposed him in a meeting and refused to change her position. He lashed out at her in front of the group, sarcastically questioning her intelligence and her commitment to the company in difficult times. When other members of the team told him he should apologize, he balked, thereby making matters worse. Im sorry shes upset, but I didnt do anything wrongshes got to learn to take the heat, he declared. Apologies matter for two reasons. First, they mend relationships. When an offense has torn the fabric of a relationship, an apology is a stage in its repair. Second, apologies mend the transgressors2 reputation. Following an offense, some people not just the offended but all who know about the affrontmay have concerns and doubts about the transgressor and even question his character. An effective apology can reassure people that the
d d ine at e tr a d uc E
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So how do you build a good apology? Apologies involve three elements: Acknowledgment of a fault or an offense, regret for it, and responsibility for the offense. You can put them all together, but a sincere, effective apology need not necessarily express all three; whether it should depends on the circumstances. A survey was performed on the working executives to assess the art of apology & The its three survey basic result dimensions. training. Untrained 50 40 60 Trained 80 65 83

showed improvement after proper

Acknowledgemen t Regret Responsibility

Table 1: Survey result on a scale of 100

transgression is understood and not likely to be repeated.

Un

100 80 60 40 20 0

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Three sides to an apology

Ack.

Re gret

Respons.

Expressing or expressive of ridicule that wounds 2 Act in disregard of laws and rules PRACTICE EXERCISE ON MICROSOFT WORD BY RAVI KUMAR

MOM & SP DEI CENTER FARIDABAD Graph 1: Survey result plotted on a graph Because we dont separate out acknowledgment, regret, and responsibility, we are often at sea, finding it unnecessarily painful to apologize when it would actually be reasonably easy to do so. Instead of getting caught up in blame, we can acknowledge anothers anger or dismay, or regret an offense, even when we dont feel responsible for a wrong. You may not be able to control whether your apology is accepted, but you can control its quality. So make every effort to control what you can. This will increase your chances of feeling good about what you have done with your apology instead of feeling bad about having to do it.

PRACTICE EXERCISE ON MICROSOFT WORD BY RAVI KUMAR