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Individual Paper

Organizational Culture and Organizational Communication

Baptist Health South Florida

COM 3135

Florida International University

Jennifer Martinez

Professor Vollrath-Bueno

03/23/20

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In our grand society of South Florida, there are countless healthcare organizations; some are smaller companies, while others may be more well-known. No matter their size or capacity, they are all sure to make some form of impact on their surrounding communities. Baptist Health South Florida (BHSF) is a large, not-for-profit healthcare organization that was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Coral Gables. This organization, which is faith-based, is now the second largest employer in the state and operates ten large hospitals. It also manages more than fifty urgent care and outpatient centers across this region, including diagnostic centers – and these numbers are growing by the year. I chose BHSF as the organization to discuss since they have a very well-defined organizational culture that makes a big impact on the communication both within and outside of their group. BHSF is an organization that is committed to excellence and providing a wide range of services to their patients. As a BHSF employee, I am proud of what they stand for, their accomplishments, and their future goals. Their logo, the pineapple, is a symbol of hospitality, signaling to patients that they will always be greeted with a warm and friendly smile, as well as great service. From experience, I can say that they are dedicated to fulfilling the purpose of the pineapple by offering the finest medical care to everyone in the region. They also stress the importance of diversity and inclusion, ensuring that every person will be valued without hesitation. Throughout my time with them and research of their organization, I can say with certainty that they have an excellent and respectful organizational culture. Culture cannot simply be avoided; it can be found everywhere a person steps foot. Culture can be properly defined as the pattern of beliefs and values shared by a group of people with a common history (Richmond, McCroskey, & Powell, 2013). In short, people within the same culture share similar backgrounds. In the workplace, this culture can be observed and

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carried throughout their entire system, which can have a significant influence on their employees and consumers. BHSF claims that their success comes from a culture of quality and dedication that each member maintains (Baptist Health South Florida, n.d.). BHSF first started out as the Baptist Hospital of Miami; this was its original and only campus in the city many years ago. The area that surrounds the organization may have an impact on the culture within BHSF (Richmond, McCroskey, & Powell, 2013). Since this organization was founded in 1960, it has instilled in its surrounding communities that it is faith-based and will be guided by the spirit of Jesus Christ and the JudeoChristian ethic. As maintained through its spiritual foundation, BHSF strives to provide compassionate healthcare services to everyone, no matter their religion, race, or origin. Their culture also consists of providing charity care to all who may need it; they will never deny anyone any aid due to personal lack of resources (Baptist Health South Florida, n.d.). If they were to ever go against these guidelines, they would be turning their backs on the good faith it was originally built upon. Their guiding principle is to reveal the healing presence of God through their compassionate healthcare services they provide. It is important to recognize that organizations are a lot like people and can develop their own personalities, in a way. BHSF strives to maintain their culture as much as possible in this ever-growing society. An organization’s culture can have a big impact on the internal communication, or the communication amongst employees. BHSF cares deeply about the health and well-being of their employees – this is another significant aspect to their culture. As part of their hospitality, as discussed previously, they offer all their employees several programs to help them accomplish their personal health goals. For instance, BHSF partnered with a health application called Virgin Pulse, which can be downloaded on your cellphone. It consists of health tips, nutrition and recipe

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resources, exercise routines, and meditation programs that motivate the individual to improve their lifestyle. As an excellent incentive, an employee can fully meet their $1,000 deductible if they acquire 15,000 points on this platform through these health activities within a certain timeframe, so long as they are insured through BHSF. This organization is proud to retain its reputation as one of the healthiest employers in the nation. This helps reflect on the organization’s internal communication as it encourages employees to work together and emphasize teamwork as they push towards their goals of healthier lifestyle and routines. BHSF emphasizes the importance of keeping their employees content and satisfied. They acknowledge that employees and their families are just as much a part of the community they serve as their patients. To follow through with their culture and to thank their employees for their loyalty, BHSF created their Pineapple Rewards program. This program is a collection of complimentary services and discounts offered to the employee and their dependents (Baptist Health South Florida, n.d.). It presents the employee with complimentary valet, special discounts on their telehealth visits, discount programs at local restaurants and retailers, and their physician referral service. This program is a symbol of the respect that BHSF has towards its employees, and this strongly reflects their organizational culture as it serves as another excellent incentive for employees to continue putting in their hard work and effort. BHSF, as with many other healthcare organizations, would be nothing without the constant support and trust from their patients and partners. Being a faith-based organization, they vow to never deny anyone any care they may need. They are committed to caring for their community and have therefore created the Community Health Needs Assessment plan. This constitutes a diverse group of community stakeholders who help to identify and concentrate on the major health needs in their service areas (Baptist Health South Florida, n.d.). Practically

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anyone who wishes to be a stakeholder can do so: patients, local law enforcement, spiritual leaders, and community partners. In 2018, BHSF provided $339 million in total charity care, providing for almost 24,000 uninsured patients with low-income (Baptist Health South Florida, n.d.). Despite these accomplishments, they are always striving for more. They encourage their stakeholders and community to join their effort in addressing critical issues in their region that cannot be ignored. This is an excellent demonstration of how their culture influences their external communication. BHSF’s desire to spread their hospitality with everyone in their community also shines through their free health clinics. They provide support to various independent clinics in the community that provide primary care services and other outpatient services to uninsured patients (Baptist Health South Florida, n.d.). These patients must meet certain financial guidelines and there are four free health clinics that they can utilize. BHSF also provides several resources for the community to use when they are in need, such as a financial advisor available by phone or financial assistance applications found on their website. Providing health care free of charge is a fundamental component of their goal as a faith-based and not-for-profit organization. Although state and federal laws do not mandate the level of charity care they must provide, BHSF has always been more than willing to provide compassionate and high-quality care to everyone in their community. Status and power are important yet controversial topics in the workplace. Status refers to the person’s role within the group, whereas power is the capacity at which an individual can influence another to complete a task they would not have originally done (Richmond, McCroskey, & Powell, 2013). Internal communication in organizations tend to be directed to those of higher status, which may cause them to become overloaded, leading to some level of

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resentment with those at lower levels of status. There may also be some risk accompanied with the lower-status communicating with the higher-status person; for instance, the lower-level status individual may get reprimanded for this communication, leading to more antipathy. Sometimes, perceived status barriers can have a significant impact on communication within the workplace by suggesting that as the differences in status increases, the communication decreases (Richmond, McCroskey, & Powell, 2013). Unfortunately, this can cause conflict and tension among employees in an organization. Power can certainly be abused in a business if not utilized properly, and it can have a detrimental effect on internal communication. There are several different types of power, but one in particular can have the worst influence on communication: legitimate, or assigned, power. Legitimate power refers to the perception of an individual’s right to influence behavior for another (Richmond, McCroskey, & Powell, 2013). For instance, an employee may take care of a task that was asked of them to do yet may never care to do it again unless they are directly asked to. Legitimate power is often characterized by positions in the organization’s hierarchy and is sometimes therefore referred to as positional power. Unfortunately, this type of power does not encourage any motivation or communication. It can severely hinder the communication between employees in the organization.

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References

Baptist Health South Florida. (n.d.). About Baptist Health South Florida. Retrieved from https://baptisthealth.net/en/about-baptist-health/pages/default.aspx Richmond, V. P., McCroskey, J. C., and Powell, L. (2013). Power and Status. Organizational Communication for Survival, (123-133). New York City, NY: Pearson. Richmond, V. P., McCroskey, J. C., and Powell, L. (2013). Organizational Culture. Organizational Communication for Survival, (134-147). New York City, NY: Pearson....