HCA 421 Communication in the Planning Process

Explore the functions of communication in the strategic and program planning processes for a health care organization. Consider the topics discussed thus far and clearly integrate at least five key concepts related to an effective and efficient strategic plan for organizational communication dissemination. Identify three challenges with organization-wide strategic plan communication dissemination and recommend communication strategies to ameliorate these challenges.

ASSIGNMENT CLARIFICATION:

Explore the functions of communication in the strategic and program planning processes for a health care organization.

Consider the topics discussed thus far and clearly integrate at least five key concepts related to an effective and efficient strategic plan for organizational communication dissemination.

Identify three challenges with organization-wide strategic plan communication dissemination and recommend communication strategies to ameliorate these challenges. Your paper must be three to five double-spaced pages (excluding title and reference pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Utilize a minimum of two scholarly sources that were published within the last five years. One source must be obtained from the Ashford University Library. All sources must be documented in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

Focus of the paper is on maximizing one part of Strategic Plan Implementation – communicating the plan to the stakeholders of the organization (particularly the employees). The 7 functions of communication are based on the Shannon-Weaver model of communication commonly used in all types of healthcare organizations:

1. Sender – who
2. Message (verbal, non-verbal, or combination of both) – what
3. Receiver – who
4. Perception – how the message is perceived/received
5. Decoding – what context the message is decoded (understood)
6. Feedback – tell me what you heard me say?
7. Environment – organizational context (e.g., distractions, level of communication support, etc.).

Any one of the above elements has the potential to limit the effectiveness and efficiency of communication. Moreover, communication barriers are typically classified in two categories:

1. Environmental – competition for time and attention; noise; medium (e.g., verbal face-to-face, auditory phone, email written, text, etc.); legal requirements/limits (HIPAA); etc.
2. Personal – bias, education level, primary learning style, beliefs/values, frame of reference/experience, etc.

Most importantly, communication always has room for improvement and should be carefully and consistently monitored for two components:

1. What message is intended?
2. What message is received?

When there is disparity between the two monitoring components, improvement plans are needed.

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