Effective Communication Paper

Effective Communication Paper

Communication promotes knowledge within a health care organization and is necessary for the organization to thrive. Communication is not only important to the staff but also to the patients within a health care facility who depend on staff communication to receive quality medical care. Without complete communication between staff member's clinical errors can occur and the patient's health could be at risk. In this paper the subject will explain how a health care organization shares knowledge through communication and examine, which are the most effective techniques and which techniques are ineffective. This paper will review the application of these techniques and the impact techniques may have on a health care organization.

Effective Techniques for Sharing Information

One of the most effective techniques for sharing pertinent information and knowledge is the organizational structure. A formal structure is essential to permit groups within the organization to communicate knowledge with other staff members and other operations of the organization. The separation of my organization into a functional structure has had excellent rewards such as, effective use of knowledge between departments, and the delegation of projects by the proficiency and education of each department. Each group of the structure shares knowledge and works together with other departments and has the analytical skills to solve any issue that may arise.

Another form of communication is social networking. Other techniques to provide communication within an organization are weekly or monthly meetings, memos, and e-mails. These forms of communication were very effective for my organization since we only had a single staff member on each shift. Even though each staff member worked alone we all worked as a team; finishing work that another did not have time to finish, dividing work equally between staff members, and anything else we could do to make the store run more effectively and efficiently. Being the store manager, I held weekly meetings individually with each staff member and a monthly meeting with all staff members. We communicated through phone conversations, memos, and e-mails as well since we were all in the store at the same time only once a month.

Ineffective Techniques for Sharing Information

The team approach has many advantages and disadvantages. Some people like to work as a team while others do not like to work as a team making it difficult to come together and work as a team effectively. Techniques that are ineffective are sometimes the team approach and accepting feedback positively.

Sometimes the team approach did not work because everyone was not willing to do his or her part and left the leader (which was me, the store manager) to pick up the slack, instead of working as a team and each staff member doing his or her equal part. I would often receive phone calls, emails, and notes of complaints on my days off and even when I was on vacation about some of the staff members not pulling his or her weight. The team members were often upset with the feedback they received as a team. I would conduct performance evaluations on a monthly basis which consisted of an individual and a team review. Often the team members would become upset with the results of the team evaluation, even if he or she knew they were not performing to the best of his or her ability.

How These Techniques Can Be Applied or Modified In a Healthcare Work Environment

Organizational structure, functional structure, social networking, weekly or monthly meetings, memos, and e-mails are all approaches that can be applied in a healthcare work environment. According to Lombardi, Schermerhorn, and Kramer (2007), "the organizational structure is the system of tasks, workflow, reporting relationships, and communication channels that