http://www.wirelessweek.com/News/2011/07/Business-RIM-Reorganizes-Management-Cuts-Jobs/
I am just plain baffled over the changes in RIM’s management structure. I wrote a book on management years ago. The book is entitled “Telecom Management Crash Course”. I apologize for mentioning (promoting) my book but I have to because the changes taking place in RIM are confusing and I have managed people and companies for a long time.
I do not like the concept of the Co-CEO as a permanent position. The only purpose for the role is one of transition. For example, in the case of two companies merging, the CEO role is temporarily shared by two CEOs until the transition to a single company has been completed financially and operationally. This does not mean the Co-CEO role exists while the company is completing merger integration efforts; it exists until the early stages of merging the organizations have been completed. The longest the Co-CEO role should be used for is about a year. By the end of the first year, the various major pieces of backoffice financial processes should have been understood and merged, customer service should have unified, and sales and marketing campaigns should have been unified.
Yes, I do know that in certain regions of the world the Co-CEO position is used. Asia is a region of the world where a company can have two CEOs. However, the company, the management of the executive team, and corporate governance are complex. It is just basic organizational management; you can only have one person be the Number 1 boss. When a Co-CEO role is supported, it is because the company is so large and complex that it can only be managed by two highly skilled and experienced professionals. The size and complexity of such a company is so rare that the dual role is not normal.
I have made no secret that I think the source of RIM’s troubles lie in its lack of leadership. The lack of product is a result of a lack of leadership. Now RIM takes the cake. RIM has now created the Co-COO role. Unbelievable.
Why does RIM have two CEOs and now two COOs? RIM is not that big or complex. Is this simply a way to reward executives?
From the outside this decision to create two COO jobs that are responsible for the following functions looks like the RIM executive employment act:
1. Product and sales (sales I understand but what is product? Product management or marketing?) 2. Manufacturing, global supply chain, and repair services
The traditional role of COO is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company. The functions listed above by RIM are traditionally held by the following people in a company:
1. Vice President – Product Management 2. Vice President – Sales and Marketing 3. Vice President – Manufacturing - which includes supply chain management, materials management, and repair 4. Vice President – Customer Service – which can include repair
Now can you combine the VP functions into two people? The answer is YES and you can do so without making them COOs. The C-level positions are not to be treated lightly; they have fiduciary and legal responsibilities to the corporation and its shareholders. When sales and marketing positions become C-level jobs the company is so large and the product lines are so diverse that the roles are given C- status and then senior VP positions are established underneath the C- roles.