Chapter 4 of the readings in the course provided important insight into the essentials of healthcare marketing. Precisely, the chapter suggested that just as do other industries, healthcare is founded on robust marketing systems whose primary function is to connect consumers of healthcare products and services with service providers. While one would expect healthcare marketing to be a smooth process, it is notable that the process has many challenges akin to traditional marketing, which include governmental regulations, competition, and others. While chapter 4 concerned healthcare marketing, chapter five dealt with the importance of planning for emergencies. The primary message of the chapter was that organizations should always design and maintain systems of emergency preparedness that would be in line with the national disaster preparedness framework. During emergencies, the chapter insisted on the need for effective communication channels that would ensure quick coordination of services offered by the different stakeholders involved in the process. Healthcare organizations should always have proper planning approaches to would ensure emergency preparedness.
Lastly chapter 6 of the readings dealt with effective structuring of organizations to maximize on the benefits of working with different stakeholders. Since healthcare organizations have different departments and individuals, the chapter emphasized on the need for management of differentiate. According to the reading, specialization allows the healthcare institutions to benefit from specialization. However, managers should always remember to integrate their activities through structuring, which helps in coordinating the functions of the specialized systems and to realize the vision and mission of their institutions.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
My Critique
Reply to the Content of the Articles and Chapters
The chapters, much as they concern different issues in healthcare, have a relationship with each other. Precisely, I learned the need for leaders in the industry to plan before embarking on the delivery of services and products. For example, the challenges that could be experienced with marketing, handling emergencies, and organizational structure could be avoided or minimized when the managers have proper plans. On marketing, I learned that the adopted strategies are almost similar to those adopted for other industries, and the objectives are always to inform clients of the types of services and products offered, attract them to use the products and services, and to build and sustain a strong brand reputation among the clients served. Furthermore, the managers should always have specific target markets, which they will only manage through having a strong marketing strategy.
The importance of emergency preparedness cannot be overemphasized because of the uncertainty that surrounds the corporate world. Any organization in healthcare that does not plan for emergencies may face challenges of recovery in the event of one, which could be affect its business model. Again, it is always important for planners to coordinate with different stakeholders if they have to obtain effective emergency management plans. The central idea, therefore, is that much as organizations may want to differentiate and increase the levels of autonomy among the different departments and units within them, they should always be keen to maintain an integrated structure that coordinates the activities of the different units.
What I Learned about the Marketing Tools and Techniques
The readings indicated that in healthcare, branding and framing are the primary tools used in marketing. Framing concerns the way through which a healthcare organization structures and conveys its marketing message, and it is done in a way that assists in building brand reputation. Consequently, it can be adduced from the literature that branding—the development of a strong brand reputation—is the ultimate goal of marketing in healthcare, and once an organization attains the goal, it should always strive to maintain it because it gives it a competitive advantage in its industry.
I plan to use the information obtained from the literature on marketing to assist my organization to build a strong brand reputation. For instance, I will be part of the team that develops the marketing strategy for my healthcare organization in which I will help in identifying the target market, marketing mix, marketing channels, and the resources that would be used in the implementation of the adopted strategy.
About Emergency Preparedness
From the literature, I learned that effective disaster preparedness depends on coordinated efforts among different stakeholders who are internal and external. In any case, the internal team should always be concerned with collecting the necessary resources and assembling teams that would coordinate with the external ones during emergencies. In reporting an incidence with the National Incidence Management System, I would use the Incident Command System to determine the hierarchy that would ensure I meet the standard procedures set for the same process.
The Chapters and Structural Contingency Theory
The chapters are in line with the ideals of the structural contingency theory. The primary idea that I learned is that organizations should always adapt their plans to the changing environment, which means that having rigid plan may compromise the ability of organizations to deal with challenges to their business model. Consequently, the literature did not change my opinions and comprehension of the theory because the central premise of the model is that organizations should always have their plan Bs. Therefore, management should not have rigid approaches to planning, and they always explore as many options to one problem as possible to increase the chances of handing issues when they arise.
Conclusion
The readings during this week provided important insights into the management of healthcare organizations. Precisely, they indicated the need for managers to adopt effective structures that would increase the benefits of specialization through integration of different structures. Throughout the process, organizations should maintain an adaptable organization model that would help the institutions deal with operational challenges. Different stakeholders should be used in driving the institution to the desired performance. Whether healthcare organizations will be planning for emergencies or their marketing strategies, it is important for them to stick to the ideals of the structural contingency theory that directs them to have multiple approaches.
