There has been never been any question that British Telecommunications Plc would have to follow its US sibling AT&T Co and persuade an army of managers that their future lay elsewhere, and yesterday the company announced the first step with plans for a top-to-bottom restructuring of the business that will see an entire layer of UK management eliminated. First casualty of the new regime is managing director Graeme Odgers, who is resigning by mutual agreement. The current product line and geographic split of the business suits Telecom much more than it does its customers, and so it will have to go over the next 12 months, to be replaced by a Business Communications Division to serve business worldwide; a Personal Communications Division for individual UK subscribers; a Worldwide Networks Division that will take in most of British Telecom International as well as the UK national network; a unified Products & Services group; and a Special Business Division for the things that don’t fit in anywhere else. From April 1, the entire UK sales and marketing force will be integrated into a unified management structure, eliminating one tier of management. The new structure is to be complete by April 1991.
