You’ve dreaded it for a while, but now you feel prepared. In 30 minutes you’ll have to terminate Tim, a 12-year employee who is beloved by everyone in the firm. Unfortunately, he just hasn’t performed very well since his wife died three years ago and while he was given every chance to regain his performance, he has just continued to slide. Which of the following elements of communication is MOST likely to influence Tim’s perception of your communication effectiveness?

A)Tone

B)Pace

C)Indirect Non-verbals

D)Formailty

Explanation: Voice tone is really about the feeling behind what you mean. There's no shift in your voice, but the way you speak to someone. If you're angry, you might be brusque; if you're pleased, you might be delighted with your expression.

In simple words, tone depicts the attitude of the employees while making a statement to their audience. It shows the maturity level of the dictator and shows how he or she handles the situation.

Hence from the above we can conclude that tone would be the most important element in the given case as the audience of that message can get emotionally affected from that information.