Scenario : I am looking at a stage of my career when I was involved in a project for Information Technology (IT) support centralization in ABC Company and had to manage the situation where staff reduction was one of the key deliveries for the project. ABC Corporation is a multinational manufacturer of mechanical components supplying the domestic and foreign markets with twenty operating units worldwide and head office situated in Texas, USA. The ABC Company is one of the operating units of ABC Corporation in Malaysia. In early 2007, I was the Team Leader of IT application support with the Operating Unit in Malaysia and was assigned to lead a regional project for the application support rationalization. This Project was in alignment with ABC''s global IT strategy. The objectives were to streamline operation, cut down IT operating costs, and to increase efficiency in performance. The Project was to turn one of the IT support centers in Asia Pacific region into a regional IT support hub; therefore all the application systems from all the operating units in Asia Pacific region would be consolidated at the regional hub in Malaysia making it the hub with the lowest operating costs in the region. As part of the deliverable goals for this project, it was estimated there would be 15% staff reduction in the region in addition to staff having to relocate. It was recognized by the project team that this project would create uncertainty, hence it was important to communicate effectively with all stakeholders as the project progressed. In the early stage of this Project, a high level plan had been cascaded to all the IT staff; however, it did not indicate the actual number of individual staff affected. This caused the employees extreme concern about job security and as a result many staff started looking for employment elsewhere, hence the IT support service performance was degraded. The Project was particularly hard to move during the IT system study phase as most of the IT staff were reluctant to cooperate with the Project Team in providing information. Many employees felt they would lose their bargaining power in securing their jobs after sharing all the information and their knowledge, hence they held their cards close to their chest. The Project was completed after one year upon converting the IT support center in Malaysia into a Regional IT Support hub without any interruption in operation. I was promoted to the Head of IT Application Support, managing the virtual team within the Asia Pacific region, consisting of people from different cultural backgrounds which meant l had to deal with issues of diversity as part of my job role. The new support model required a minimum number of staff in other Operating Units in order to provide local support physically, however remaining staff felt undervalued as their scope had been narrowed down and they were uncertain about their future. Staff morale was extremely low and the mood was all doom and gloom as I became aware of the challenges ahead in boosting my team''s morale, motivating the staff, developing trust, and building good working relationships.