The firing of New York Mets manager Willie Randolph last week was a top headline in the world of sports and led to a storm of criticism about the way Mets officials handled the dismissal. Some say managers can glean lessons in the business world about what not to do when dismissing employees.

“There was cause for the Mets to fire him because last year the team had an historic collapse,” says Cecil Harris, author of Call the Yankees My Daddy: Reflections on Baseball, Race, and Family. “They were the first team in major league history to have a seven-game lead with 17 games to play and not make the playoffs. But the big story was the shabby, unprofessional way the firing was handled.”

After last Tuesday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, California, Randolph learned that he would be replaced by Jerry Manuel. A press release about Randolph’s removal as manager was issued shortly after 3 a.m. EST. The timing of the firing, along with the fact that Randolph was allowed to travel with the team to California for the road trip presumably when Mets management already had plans to fire him, are among the biggest points of criticism.

“Why let him get on a plane and fly cross country if you’re going to fire him, and why announce it by e-mail in the middle of the night?” Harris says. “It was just so poorly handled that Willie has become a sympathetic figure with a lot of baseball fans here in New York who would not have had any problem with him being fired had it been done with a bit more tact.”

In the business world, dismissals can sometimes be unavoidable. When dismissing an employee, firm managers should consider the human toll, says Stephanie Chick, president of Deliver the Package, an executive coaching firm in San Diego, California. “When you let someone go due to performance, there’s also a person behind that firing that has feelings, that has to go home and face family members, and they have to go off and plan for their future. I think it’s hard for the person to hear the news that they’ve been fired, but I think when it’s done with dignity and it’s done with decency, it can certainly soften the blow.”

Firings should be done in person and by an employee’s direct manager, since that’s the person the employee has the relationship with, Chick says. They should also take place privately. In the case of layoffs, managers should point out any outplacement services offered by the company, which can help employees find new employment.

If an employee’s performance is behind the firing, “give the person ample opportunity to correct the performance problem before you have to terminate them,” Chick advises.

In the case of Randolph’s firing, the time the news was delivered and the fact that it was delivered on the road are two factors that have led some to believe that