IT department has been in full restructuring mode for that last year. the Nordstrom family are very good merchandisers, have been wonderful employers in the past. but now they are reacting to Amazon's entry into the Women's apparel market, it's a major competitive concern for them.
they are trying to restructure their IT dept to be like Amazon and Microsoft, hiring many IT folks from those companies and laying off many loyal employees from VP level to engineers that built their highly successful multi channel systems. Amazon and Microsoft are able to hire a large number of young interns every year, train them, work them (almost) to death and discard them and train a new crop. Nordstrom main business model is not IT like Amazon and Microsoft, yet Nordstrom's is trying to recreate an environment that they do not have the infrastructure for.
highly political environment, you spin a good story you are highly valued, team players, mentorship skills, inter-team skills are not valued... anymore.