The Hard and Soft Sides of Change Management

15

The TCW Relocation Case

As Kate, the training and development manager at TCW, waited for the meeting to begin, she shifted uneasily in her seat. This was not going to be an easy discussion. Kate and about 200 of her co-workers from TCW’s corporate office had just relocated to less expensive space across town. At first, the project had proceeded swimmingly, and Kate was really glad she had volunteered to represent her department on the project team that was planning the move. But in the end, the relocation hadn’t gone well, and the mood around the office was dour. Some employees seemed downright surly.

So when Edie, the space planner who’d led TCW’s relocation, called the project team together to conduct a postmortem on the move, Kate wasn’t ...