Critical Thinking

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Critical Thinking
Founded in 1996 and operating seven community and surgical hospitals in the southwest United States, Cirrus Health is among the few “investor-owned hospital companies.” Globalization is a phenomenon that has taken root in almost all aspect of the world dynamics today. Almost all aspects of our lives have been affected by this component. It is indeed an inevitable topic due to the way in which globalization continues to shape our lives. Today, the world is increasingly being referred to as a global village based on the way in which the world borders have been bridged. The world is constantly moving towards the adoption of principles that are uniform across all nations. Healthcare has not been an exception. For many decades, it had been thought that healthcare is among the industries that are immune to globalization. However, current trends seem to have proved us wrong. Almost all dimensions of healthcare are slowly incorporating an aspect of globalization (MacLachlan 6). With this happening, there have arisen numerous arguments on the implication of globalization in medicine. This paper looks to propose an organizational and functional framework for Cirrus Health to be a multinational company.
While some people support globalization in medicine due to the reduction of treatment costs, critics have consistently raised concern over the possible far-reaching negative consequences of globalization in healthcare. Multinational corporations, small ones, in particular, face more challenges regarding organizational structure than those that operate in only single national markets like Cirrus Health.

The companies need to maintain organizational units that are fully functional, but these functions need to be fulfilled in different ways, which is dependent on where the business operates. The main challenge that is often faced is creating differentiated units of the organization that will be responsible for the foreign markets while operations need to be coordinated across the home country.
Globalization of Cirrus Health will champion for the adoption of standard treatment practices. However, this is practically hard based on cultural and social dynamics that shape health practices. For instance, some regions still hold onto traditional medical practices making it difficult to roll out standard principles of healthcare. The Chinese for example regard acupuncture and other traditional health practices to be superior compared to modern medical principles. As such, modern medical practices have faced hostility from residents from such jurisdictions. The presence of such disparities has increasingly posed a risk to the globalization of healthcare making it difficult to realize the benefits of a global health structure. Because healthcare practices are varied due to the influence of strong socio-cultural values, the phenomenon of globalization in medicine will always remain affected thereby realizing only meager benefits for the world population. However, even with the numerous concerns that come with the globalization of healthcare, it is worth noting that such a phenomenon still boasts of advantages that have inspired proponents to campaign for a global healthcare system.
Functional
A multinational corporation that is functionally organized employs corporate functions as a foundation for its organizational structure. Human resources, production customer service, and design are typical elements of the functional unit. If an organization is functionally organized and has a centralized structure, all company operations are based in the home nation of the organization and each employee has the responsibility for the different national market. This type of setup is effective and efficient for corporations that are small to have subsidiaries overseas. Large corporations can have this kind of setup, but in a decentralized fashion, where foreign workers undertake some managerial tasks in their own nations. In such cases, corporations have to pay attention to the coordination of activities.
Geographic
A regular form of organizational structure for larger businesses and corporations that need a presence in foreign nations is one founded in geography. Additionally, to the headquarters or home office, “semi-independent” operations have set root in the countries where the company is active. For larger companies, these can take the form of “subsidiaries”, while smaller businesses may have a simple setup as simple as a single small office or an agent. This kind of structure gives flexibility; the head office can transfer duties abroad if local conditions require so and if the foreign operation is capable, likewise, the head office can take up local operations if need be.
In conclusion, globalization has recently become a major area of interest due to the way in which it has influenced every sector. Despite the notion that healthcare has been spared from this phenomenon, it is important to note that healthcare has recently been at the center of the globalization debate. With globalization, there have been numerous concerns over the implications of such a system. Various reasons have made analysts to consider globalization of healthcare as harmful rather than beneficial since the demerits of such a system seem to outweigh the benefits. For instance, globalization exposes human subjects to harmful healthcare practices due to lack of uniform legislation in affected countries. However, even with the numerous demerits of such a system, globalization of healthcare is not without benefits. For instance, globalization has realized numerous economic gains for countries involved due to ventures such as medical tourism.
Works Cited
MacLachlan, Malcolm. “Rethinking Global Health Research: Towards Integrative Expertise.” Globalization and Health 5.1 (2009): 6. Web. 16 Feb. 2018.