one of the three critical events listed below that would affect communication within your selected Virtual Organization:

Running Head: COMMUNICATION IN ORGANIZATIONS 1

COMMUNICATION IN ORGANIZATIONS 2

Communication: Patton Fuller Community Hospital

University of Phoenix

BSCOM/485

Professor Turner

May 4, 2021

Descriptive Framework: Organizational Communication Analysis

Good communication is a prerequisite for the success of the companies. From the animated video, the company's success depends on how it communicates its business to investors, consumers, employees, the government, and the media. Further, communication within an organization must be whole-round. The organization should listen, learn, and build a good reputation with everyone because its success depends much on its reputation.

Patton-Community Fuller Hospital

I use Patton community Fuller Hospital as my virtual organization. With increasing technology, organizations are developing the easiest ways to operationalize while using the minimum effort. With increased information technology, and improved communication, numerous virtual organizations have sprouted up, and Patton-Community Fuller Hospital is among these organizations. Patton hospital was established in 1975 and has been successful in providing quality healthcare to its patients.

Description of the different aspects at Patton Fuller

The organization is constituted of different people who have different roles at the organizations. Among the key stakeholders at the company are the employees, clients, medical suppliers, the board directors, and the vendors. The employees at the company are the healthcare professionals who provide healthcare services to the clients who visit the hospital. Other employees work in accounting and finance departments and knowledge management systems. Patton Fuller employees are core to its success since it was founded in 1975. The clients are all the patients who visit the hospital with different healthcare needs. As employees, the clients have been pivotal in marketing the organization through referrals. The suppliers provide key critical medical equipment required to operationalize medical activities at the organization. Lastly, the board of directors is responsible for providing the direction for the company. They stipulate what policies should be used at the organization, which helps create focus and direction at the company.

Structural Characteristics of formal communication

The Patton Fuller communication structure is simplistic. The organizational website hosts seven different network levels: the top view, logical, administrative, radiology and radiology systems, and information technology data center. All these distinct levels of communication facilitate communication between the organizational employees, management, and clients. The communication network is extended to the floors, the operating room, and the ICUs so that the patient information can be fed into the overall Patton Fuller communication network. Each of the seven network levels at the organization has roles it plays. For instance, the Top View communication network defines the structure of the hospital in terms of how the information technology infrastructure is applied. Therefore, the network level has two components that perform clinical and administrative roles. The clinical components are constituted of operational rooms, the pharmacy, radiology, and other clinical essentials. At the same time, the administrative department of the Top View level of network diagram performs administrative roles like admitting the patients to the hospitals.

From the network diagram, one of the characteristics of the communication network diagram at the hospital is that it is hierarchical or functional. The communication duties are assigned at the company based on the roles each employee play at the organization. For example, at the top of communication is the top view level categorized into clinical and administrative roles. In connection to functionalism network structure, the clinicians at the organization share information on patients in labor, ICU, and wards. This illuminates the fact that employees working in the same healthcare department at the Patton Fuller hospital have to share a communication level in the network level diagram.

Apart from the communication network's formal communication processes, communication at the Patton Fuller community can be done informally. The board of directors, the management, and the employees can meet at the organization and discuss the factors that affect the working environment. The employees can hold a face-on-face conversation with clients who visit the hospitals for various services. Also, informal communication can be achieved through the use of text messages and e-mails. The management can communicate with the employees about a particular issue via e-mails or through the use of text messages (van Woerkum and Aarts, 2008). Informal communications often address minor issues which can be better communicated informally. Video conferencing can also be utilized in conducting communication, especially during an emergency that makes face-face-communication difficult. An example of an emergency that can push Patton Fuller to use video conferencing communication is the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Structure of Internal and External Communication at Patton Fuller

Communication within the virtual company gravitates around processing and storing information. Various communication systems are installed at the company to help in processing information that is then secured and stored for future reference (van Woerkum and Aarts, 2008). In terms of the communication infrastructure used at the organization, a telephone communication network is used. The telephony communication system is most preferable because of the ease of communication between the various departments. Also, telephony communication is cost-effective compared to other forms of communication. It is easier to communicate using phone calls to patients and other employees working at the organization, making it possible for Patton Fuller to save time. Not all contemporary information uses telephone communication at the organization. The few that use the telephone system include accounting and finance systems, human resource information systems, customer relationship management, and knowledge management systems.

Patton Fuller Organizational Structure

Organizational structures stipulate the relationship between t the organization, leading to a reliable working relationship (Grossi et al., 2007). There several organizational structures (Janicijevic, 2013). However, the Patton Fuller Community hospital uses the functional organizational structure. At the hospital, employees have different skills regarding treating the patients who visit the hospital facility. The hospital provides a myriad of healthcare services that include labor and delivery, surgery, physical therapy, and radiology for all ages (Sawpan, n.d). The different specialists who work at the organization suit the functional organizational structure (Vanhaverbeke and Torremans, 1999). They are divided into different groups according to their specialties.

Conclusion

Communication drives success in an organization. Upon realizing the importance of communication, the Patton hospital has developed a robust communication system to facilitate information sharing. The hospital facility uses the telephony communication network because of ease of use and the reduced costs. Further, there is a seven-level network communication diagram that defines the formal communication that takes place at the organization. Besides formal communication, informal communication can also occur at the organization through emails, calls, and video conferencing. For continuity in communication, backup communication has to be developed to aid communication during emergencies.

A Recommendation of Back-Up Communication Systems

Communication at hospital facilities is crucial. However, studies have shown that communication between hospitals and employees is greatly destroyed (NLM in Focus, 2013). Consequently, hospitals have to develop a back-communication infrastructure that can be relied upon during an emergency. I would recommend the Patton Fuller community hospital develop an NLM communication infrastructure that can support the exchange of information using the internet through Ethernet or Wi-Fi (NLM in Focus, 2013). Also, an amateur or ham radio can be used to relay information to employees or hospitals beyond the disaster area.

References

Grossi, D., Royakkers, L., & Dignum, F. (2007). Organizational structure and responsibility. Artificial Intelligence and Law, 15(3), 223–249. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10506-007-9054-0

Janicijevic, N. (2013). The mutual impact of organizational culture and structure. Ekonomski Anali, 58(198), 35–60. https://doi.org/10.2298/eka1398035j

NLM in Focus. (2013, January 10). Emergency Backup Communications: The Old Meets the New | NLM in Focus. U.S. National Library of Medicine. https://infocus.nlm.nih.gov/2013/01/10/emergency_backup_communication/.

Sawpan. (n.d.). sawpan. Saw Pan. https://sawpan.com/patton-fuller-community-hospitals-structure-and-functional-relationships-contribute-to-its-success/.

Vanhaverbeke, W., & Torremans, H. (1999). Organizational structure in process-based organizations. Knowledge and Process Management, 6(1), 41–52. https://doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1099-1441(199903)6:1<41::aid-kpm47>3.0.co;2-4

van Woerkum, C., & Aarts, N. (2008). Staying connected. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 13(2), 197–211. https://doi.org/10.1108/13563280810869613