Geher Blog 1 – Organizational Culture

As I wrap up my first week interning at the Dutchess County Department of Behavioral and Community Health, I now have  a better understanding of the organizational culture of the organization. There are many different sorts of employees here, ranging from public health nurses, to educators, to biostatisticians and everything in between, leading me to believe that there is a lot more that goes into the field of public health than many would realize, especially during a public health crisis such as COVID-19. The values of my supervisors and fellow employees seem to hold are equity, community, science and evidence based decisions as well as prevention and education. As for the attitudes about work here, the employees and supervisors alike merely have the community of Dutchess County’s best interests and health at heart, and just want to be able to do the most effective work at maximizing public health. The team is very motivated and community-oriented and the work that they do is crucial for the residents of Dutchess County. In terms of norms here and the process of learning these norms, I was welcomed with open arms onto the team and all of my colleagues were super clear about being there if I had any questions or ever needed help for things such as how to follow the norms of the site. People here interact formally for the most part but are definitely friendly with one another and there are definitely times where there is a more informal atmosphere. Since we are mostly in person, communication can often happen at the office and in person, or over Teams or email. I believe that the context of being a public health organization leads my colleagues and supervisors here to be very motivated to maximize health for the residents of Dutchess County and the leadership is very relaxed and content as long as employees are doing their best to make a difference in public health. In terms of strengths, this style leads for more self-motivated employees who genuinely want to make a difference in the community and to make health more equitable. As for weaknesses, this more relaxed style could lead to some who need a more regimented schedule to be less effective workers without a super clear leadership hierarchy and incredibly strong leadership.