Gerald, the General Manager at Meteorite Systems, Has to Give

Gerald, the general manager at Meteorite Systems, has to give a negative performance evaluation to Norman, one of the shift managers. During the review, Gerald first thanks Norman for all his efforts, then he delivers the bad news. Finally he ends the review with an expression of goodwill. In this situation, Gerald is applying the ______ approach for delivering the negative performance review.

A) sandwich
B) teaser
C) buffer
D) sugarcoat
E) direct