Effective Communication
HCS/325

Effective Communication Most of the organizations, including health care industry, require their employees to connect with their coworkers and employees within and outside their organization. According to "Effective Communication In Hospitals" (2013), “Good medical care depends upon effective communication between patients and providers; ineffective communication can lead to improper diagnosis and delayed or improper medical treatment” (para. 1). Even though it is critical to share any kind of sensitive knowledge for the success of any organization, it is always difficult for the employees to not share knowledge with their coworkers, consultants, off-site employees, and other types of workers and resources. It may seem and sound easy to not share any type of sensitive information with the coworkers, but it is difficult to acknowledge which information may or may not be sensitive for the organization’s success. There are many organizational structures for all types of industries. Several health care organizations use traditional structures such as functional, divisional, and matrix structures; and other use nontraditional ways that give emphasis to teams and set of connections (Lombardi, Schermerhorn, & Kramer, "Introduction," 2007). The functional model is one of the model structures that best describes the health care organization such as hospitals. According to Lombardi, Schermerhorn, and Kramer (2007), people who have same skills are put together in functional structures; in functional structure, health care organization is categorized by marketing and public relations, finance, patient services, and human resources; vice president for patients is responsible for the patient problems; the vice president for marketing and public relations is responsible for marketing problems; and other vice presidents are responsible for their categories ("Functional Structures"). This information suggests that there are different vice presidents for different categories such as marketing, public relations, finance, patient services, and human resources in functional structures of the health care industry. Having different officers such as different vice presidents for different categories makes it easier for the organization employees to share knowledge and involve employees in formulating solutions to problems. There are many effective techniques and its advantages of using functional structures. “The major advantages include efficient use of resources within and between functional area; consistent and appropriate task assignments based on expertise and training within each functional area; high-quality technical problem-solving; in-depth training and skill development within functions; clear career paths within functions” (Lombardi, Schermerhorn, & Kramer, 2007, "Functional Structures"). Making functions a focal point may generate problems in the organization, which may make ineffective techniques in communication. The problems include functional chimneys, reliance on upper management, and confusion and responsibility shifting; functional chimneys happen when individuals or group in functional structure develop points that is bias and he or she is unwilling to cooperate, he or she may not focus on a broader scale; individuals only communicate within their own chain of command and do not expand to other function groups; in reliance on upper management, problems are passed on to higher levels than dealing them directly at the same level, which may slow the process of decision making and may result as a loss in advantages of competitions; in confusion and responsibility-shifting, focusing strongly on groups can cause confusion in legal and business changes that everyone should be aware of and should understand (Lombardi, Schermerhorn, & Kramer, "Introduction," 2007). There are many ways to apply and modify different techniques in health care. According to Pressman (2009), “Communication difficulties are all too often devastating in health care settings; they can, and often do, create huge barriers between patients and health care staff; trouble communicating can be attributed to new or chronic speech and/ or comprehension difficulties, medical interventions and/or language barriers of non-English speakers; patients regularly report instances in which communication barriers result in feelings of anxiety, fear, frustration, unrecognized pain, and overall loss of control” (para. 2). There are many model structures that are used in all the organizations. Health care industry use various structures, including functional structure. There are many advantages in using the functional structure as well as some disadvantages. Even though it is critical to share any kind of sensitive knowledge for the success of any organization, it is always difficult for the employees to not share knowledge with their coworkers, consultants, off-site employees, and other types of workers and resources.

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References
Effective Communication in Hospitals. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/civilrights/resources/specialtopics/hospitalcommunication/index. html
Lombardi, D. J., Schermerhorn, J. R., & Kramer, B. (2007). Health Care Management. Retrieved from https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary2/content/eReader.aspx.
Pressman, H. (2009). Communication Access Within Healthcare Environments. Retrieved from http://www.patientprovidercommunication.org/article_3.htm