MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

Deploying resources
building" syndrome. Maybe if we had just sold the lot and moved
en masse somewhere else (Interviewee C)
Initially there was a feeling that it was their building and not ours.
We were coming into their building. (Interviewee B)
One manager thought that this was something which was not a
problem for long:-
Initially in the CPSA, inside there was a feeling that these people
were taking over our building, all the things that you would
expect; within a month or so that all settled down and people
were meeting in the canteen (Interviewee E)
Or that it applied only in certain cases:-
The suggestion was made some months earlier that some
CPSA people thought that their building had been “invaded” but
this remained only where groups had not been collocated or
mixed, for example print and distribution. The Finance
Department has moved into open plan space and there was very
significant change. The bargaining units were the first to be
collocated and they were mostly working together. The most
threatened people were the oligarchy of the CPSA. (Interviewee
F)
But others have very different views:-
Coming here, one party’s culture is seeping out of the walls and
permeating and causing tensions. I have told them all, the
Senior Management Team. I feel like an intruder, coming in
here. I feel talked about behind my back as being someone who
came in and set up here. (Interviewee H)
And there is confirmation of the fact that the issue was raised after the
event:-
There have been one or two people since saying well maybe it
would have been better if we had bought somewhere new,
realised the Southwark estate, realised Clapham, which is also a
freehold building, and bought somewhere new, so that people all
came, as it were, freshly arrayed to the feast (Interviewee L)
The second issue which was plainly felt quite strongly was the impact,
in terms of culture and working methods, of the increased use of open
plan office space. In one regional office, there was particular
enthusiasm for what it could achieve:-
That's what we saw it (open plan) as. It would help cement the
team. We would get over some of the different practices as well
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