This paper presents a firsthand analysis of the organizational culture at NYU Langone Medical Center, based on a fifteen-week volunteer internship conducted in fall 2016. Drawing on direct observation, employee conversations, physical artifacts, and institutional documents, the author examines how Langone's stated mission — to serve, teach, and discover — is reflected in day-to-day workplace behavior, staff morale, and management style. The paper also explores the distribution of power and authority, the relationship between staff and managers, diversity practices, and how Langone's culture compares to a traditional hierarchical workplace. The analysis concludes that Langone's culture effectively supports both organizational goals and individual employee well-being.
As a non-traditional volunteer intern at NYU Langone Medical Center from September to December 2016, I obtained a firsthand look at the organization's culture. My objective as a student intern was to develop my communication and problem-solving skills by shadowing various employees at the center and performing tasks appropriate to my skill level and background. What I discerned in terms of workplace culture came by way of conversations with employees at Langone, observations of interactions among staff and supervisors, documents like the employee handbook, and physical artifacts — such as the promotion of the NYU logo on merchandise almost everywhere one looked. This paper provides an analysis of the culture at NYU Langone Medical Center and explains why the organization's culture supports organizational goals and the well-being, morale, and productivity of individual employees.
The organizational goals of Langone Medical Center are "to serve, teach, and discover" (Our Leadership, 2015). The values of the employees with whom I came into contact appeared to be in line with these objectives. I shadowed several persons throughout my fifteen-week internship, and every one of them embodied these values: they communicated the importance of serving others through their actions, always putting others first and giving people their time. They greeted me warmly and made me feel welcomed. The furniture in the area where I was stationed the longest — during the database entry phase, which lasted two weeks — was arranged neatly and professionally, promoting a sense of orderliness, dutifulness, and studiousness. On the desks, doors, and walls of the rooms I visited were a wide array of images and slogans, from family pictures to motivational phrases that individuals wanted to share with others.
In all, the atmosphere of NYU Langone Medical Center was fair, welcoming, upbeat, positive, ordered, and professional. While I was never formally admitted as a team player or assigned to a unit with fully functioning duties, I observed that all the employees I shadowed were very knowledgeable about their roles and willing to share their knowledge and experiences. The workers were obviously proud of their organization and often stated their belief that NYU Langone was the best place to work. There was a clear sense of love and affection on the part of the staff for the organization, which to me indicated that the organizational culture had succeeded in effecting high morale among the staff and was meeting its objectives.
Everyone seemed to wear the NYU logo everywhere I looked, which created a real feeling of solidarity, uniformity, and team spirit. People looked proud and happy to be part of the organizational culture and wanted to show their support by wearing clothing that promoted the school and center's identity through the logo. Other places of employment would no doubt love to have the kind of devotion and support from workers that Langone had.
Power and authority are distributed through the medical center in a hierarchical fashion, yet there is a sense of both centralized authority that oversees various departments and independent authority within various operations and units, where smaller teams and workgroups focus on specific activities. I observed that these teams and workgroups were highly motivated and accountable to a team leader, who functioned much like a coach: supportive of team members and providing motivation and insight — though every coach is different, with some calling plays more than others. These managers were also responsible for describing the outcomes of various projects, but there was no indication of micromanaging occurring anywhere I went. Centralized authority was not evident on the surface but rather sensed in a much subtler way, as though it existed behind the scenes and acted only in an oversight capacity rather than in a punitive or dictatorial manner. The culture of the groups and units was positive everywhere I went, and no one expressed any frustration with the group, team, unit, or the activities they were engaged in. Everyone seemed satisfied with the work and happy to be part of the organization.
The units felt at times loosely structured, but this was only because some activities appeared informal to my outside perspective. I quickly realized that team members reported during team meetings to a team leader and that decisions were made in a hierarchical fashion, though some leaders had their own leadership styles — some managed democratically while others made more independent decisions.
I also noticed explicit values regarding diversity and inclusion on signs posted around the medical campus. Individuals depicted on posters were diverse — some were Asian, some African American, some Hispanic, and some Caucasian. Everyone was represented, and there was no indication of any one group or subculture having preference over another. The workforce itself also appeared to be as diverse as represented in the posters: many races and ethnicities were employed at the medical center, and all of them appeared ready and willing to work together toward their common goals. Managers and team leaders were likewise diverse in race, ethnicity, and gender.
"Formal and informal staff-manager interaction styles"
"Langone versus a traditional hierarchical workplace"
In conclusion, my analysis of the culture at Langone finds that the organizational culture supports the center's goals as well as the well-being, morale, and productivity of individual employees. All workers were happy to be there, indicating that the organization takes care of them and appreciates them for their work. The incentives to be part of the center were clearly present, even if they were never explicitly outlined for me. Morale was positive and proud everywhere I looked, with workers displaying the NYU logo throughout the campus, and employee engagement appeared to be high. Everyone was engaged and no one ever appeared to be slacking.
During my internship, I was struck by how disciplined the workforce was even though there never appeared to be a boss standing over anyone's shoulders. While there was a hierarchy to the organization, there was also a very informal, learning-oriented dynamic within the workforce's units and groups, which I found to be very refreshing and inspiring. Overall, my impressions of Langone's culture were very favorable, and I would recommend the internship to anyone looking to gain experience in a professional healthcare environment.
Our Leadership. (2015). NYU Langone. Retrieved from
Watkins, M. (2013). What is organizational culture? And why should we care? Harvard Business Review, 1–5.
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