“The good guy syndrome occurs when we try to make ourselves look better or the receiver of the message feel better when delivering negative messages. Not only do we do this to make ourselves feel better but to also keep the relations intact. This can result in statements that can be legally dangerous”

What is good guy syndrome?

Business communicators act as agents of their organizations. Their words, decisions, and opinions are assumed to represent those of the organization; there are many ways you can distinguish if a colleague is using good guy syndrome to break bad news. For example the statement "I thought you were and excellent candidate but we had to hire..." This statement shows that the colleague or supervisor delivering the message is trying their very best to break the news gently. 

Example:

Consider the case of any firm interviewing candidates for a job.  The firm has asked one of its partner to inform the candidate that she didn’t get selected. Considering the fact that in every message there comes a situation in which a company has to deliver bad messages of any sort. Whether it may be an interviewee, customer, investor, supplier, etc. The person the firm has chosen to deliver the message is put in a position where they want to maintain a good relationship with this person and decides to decides to break the news down as gentle as possible. However by doing so the company (or person) can make a mistake by delivering the message too gently that can result in the actual matter becoming overlooked. This can further create some legal problems that the company may have to handle. In this case the person informed the interviewee that “although she was the “most qualified candidate they had interviewed for the job, they unfortunately couldn’t hire her; as the company did not have a position to offer her with that amount of qualifications. Somehow, the interviewee came to the knowledge and understanding that the company had instead hired two male employees. In the end she had sued the company, charging them for sexual discrimination. The interviewee had won the case only because the guy was trying to be good to her “using the good guy syndrome."

References

Business Communication - Mary Ellen Gruffy

Gill, K. (n.d.). Three cause of legal problems in bad news messages.

http://legalproblemsnewsmsgs.blogspot.ca/2012/03/careless-language.html