B&B to axe top Eircom managers

fatherdougalmag

BABCOCK & BROWN, Eircom’s new owner, is to begin a cull of senior managers taking out 30 of its 150 top bosses at a cost of more than €6m. The managers have been offered voluntary redundancy, with payouts believed to be starting at €200,000 apiece.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2095-2449571.html

Slutmonkey57b

Unless our mate Con Scanlon is going this isn't going to help any.

trekkypj

I disagree.

Management in any company must periodically be pruned back, for several reasons.

1. It removes any 'dead weight' in the management structure.

2. When this kind of thing happens, it is to make sure everyone is singing on the same page of the hymn book. As Machievelli wrote, when you acquire a new state, you first remove those in authority from the equation. You get those who are not in power on your side while keeping them from challenging your authority.

The same idea applies to companies to some degree. The old management has the potential to obfusticate and frustrate the plans of B&B, so they sensibly are taking measures to make sure this doesn't happen.

3. If the new regime results in a move away from the state telco way of thinking then I see this as a good move for Eircom. Whether it is a good thing for the aims of IrelandOffline remains to be seen, but I'm nothing if not an optimist.

4. Clearing out the old management is a good step, but what's really needed is a reshuffle of the branch and root levels. More engineers, more technicians, trained in the latest technologies. And of course, better customer support. Eircom can no longer be complacent, and if you take this in conjunction with the announcement to invest EUR1bn in fibre, then I see a change in the air.

Of course, rural broadband is still going to be a problem. But that is a job best left to the government to sort. Unfortunate then that we have a cabinet with the foresight and concentration of a myopic goldfish.