Barriers to Effective Communication in the Workplace - Essay Example

Barriers to Effective Communication in the Workplace Effective communication is the key to the strengthening and survival of any Health care facilities with their huge administrative structure and numerous specialised positions is the ideal setting for communicational backlogs earning them the name "professional bureaucracies" (Mintzberg, 1979). In the last few decades of the last century, increased absenteism and low retention rate of nursing staff in hospitals encouraged a number of studies that exposed proper communication as a major reason for job satisfaction in the health care industry.

Communication in this context includes friendly and supportive staff, supportive and effective management, job satisfaction, and staff development including oppurtunities for new challenges (McCabe, 2005). In the healthcare facility of our concern, it was widely felt among the junior enlisted staff and the officers that they were not provided with sufficient advise as to what it takes to be competetive and acheive promotions in order to improve career advancement. The efforts of the senior management to assess officer demographics to determine the number and type of specialities was deemed insufficient.

Wallis and Wolff (1988) had documented that the workload of the staff in public hospitals is not well differentiated and the various tasks such as rotation is not flexible. Private hospitals as well as speciality hospitals impart technical training to their staff helping them in their career enhancement. Also, the present generation of healthcare workers report opportunities for skill building and learning as key motivators in deciding to stay or leave an organization, reflecting their perceived commitment to continuing development and learning.

Investment in mentoring programs and training and development programs can be an efective response to these needs (Curran, 2003). Much of the issues related to healthcare communication are related to the nature of micromanagement exercised in these institutions. For the success of any institution, the staff must be treated as unique individuals who can make unique contributions (McCabe, 2005). A decentralized decision making and shared governance system can make a huge difference in the way staff incorporate themselves into the organization.

Autonomy to make decisions is necessary for job satisfaction (Upneiks, 2003). The senior management must make it their priority to provide a "climate free of miromanagement with equal and fair treatment for all" - implying an absence of favoritism as well as linguistic discrimination. Periodic evaluations, surveys, feedback mechanisms as well as occassional accountability checks are necessary to break down the current communication barriers in this institution (Naval Health Clinic, Great Lakes, IL) as well as others.

Work pressure, poor cohesion within the organization, autonomy, supervisor support etc may affect worker satisfaction. Also incidents of bullying and disrespectful behavior must be dealt with severly. That communication is a prominent issue affecting the effeciency of healthcare institutions has now been completely accepted though the complementary institutional changes are yet to be visible. The concept of "Magnet Hospital" currently present in the USA is a pertinent step in recognising the contribution of personnel management to the running of healthcare facilities.

This distinction is given only to those hospitals that have implemented a set of policies that contribute to their personnel satisfaction. These concepts and practices can be extended to military facilities.ReferencesDon Wallis & Charles Johannes Wolf, Stress and Organisational Problems in Hospitals: Implications for Management, 1988, Published by RoutledgeIs Anybody Managing the Store? National Trends in Hospital Performance John R Griffith,  Jeffrey A Alexander,  Richard C Jelinek,  David A Foster,  Gary A Mecklenburg.

  Journal of Healthcare Management.  Chicago:Nov/Dec 2006.  Vol. 51,  Iss. 6,  p. 392-405, discussion 405-6 (15 pp.)Rebecca McCabe, Increasing retention of nursing staff at hospitals: aspects of management and leadership, 2005, Australian Bulletin of LabourLacey, L.M. (2003), Called into Question: What Nurses Want, Nursing Management, vol. 34, pp 25-26. Henry Mintzberg,The structuring of organizations: A synthesis of the research,1979, McGill UniversityCurran, C.R. (2003), Becoming the Employer of Choice, Nursing Economics, vol. 21, pp. 57-58.

Upenieks, V. (2003 b), Whats the Attraction to Magnet Hospitals, Nursing Management, vol. 34, pp. 43-44.