Forcible "integration"

I have officially been "integrated" into the larger organization that swallowed up our "smaller" 1000 person division earlier this year. Although I've been at this place 29 years, this is something new for me. And that's saying something.

Don't get me wrong, reorganizations around here come fast and furious. Nothing new there. I've been through reorganizations where my team gets a new manager, the team is moved to some other organization, we get a new higher-level manager, etc. Any of these I've gone through numerous times (I'm on my sixth manager now in the last 12 months).

This time was different. The team I was on was broken apart by function, and each person sent to a different place in this new monster organization. A team of familiar faces is quite helpful in times of change - but that security blanket is not there this time. My old team no longer exists.

Instead, like the Army, I have been told to report to G, my new manager. My entire team is on the East Coast; I've never heard of them, and they've never heard of me. None of the team members has been an employee more than five years; my manager has been here eight months. Oh, and I'm the oldest on the team by at least 15 years.

Last year when I joined this team, I had to interview for the job - they chose me for the position. Although I was new, my new manager had heard good things about me, and I had a local West Coast teammate that I knew.

But in this situation, I was literally dumped on this team, apparently whether they liked it or not. No one had a choice, there was nothing voluntary about it. Hopefully it will all work out, assuming this is not simply a short way station before the vaunted "economies" of this integration are realized.

However, no matter which way I look at it, it's rather unsettling.