Micro-managing and an over-controlling attitude come from the top-down, and it is felt throughout the organization. This attitude, mixed with a very high volume of temporary, contract employees, makes for a difficult work environment where many administrators are striving to exercise any and all authority that they have. No formal type of project management (Agile, etc) has been implemented throughout the organization and the clearest metric of what you should be working on is based on your direct managers level of stress (and what project it pertains to). If you want to have courteous relationships with your coworkers, without being best friends, that is a difficult endeavor here. Behaviors that are not explicitly required, but somewhat expected, include going to dinner (outside of normal working hours) with your team and executive superiors, spending a lot of time chatting about non-work related things, etc. This organization has a facade of professionalism through archaic workplace etiquette and frequent meetings, but no depth.