It is a given that "External" consulting groups work with "Internal" executive leadership teams to architect mergers. The T acquisition of Direct TV was the same. However, it appears to some the "internal execution" to make it organizationally integrated and function is failing miserably. The common theme emerging the past few weeks during "random interviews" is the DTV / T merger is a disaster. The downsizing without justification is also desensitizing employees, and most employees (esp Director & Above) in LA feel another cut is coming and their time could be limited in spite of recent org changes. In fact many of the LA directors and above are shopping resumes to find new employment already (layoff or not). The common theme consultants hear and report back is that the original SWBT/ RBOC mergers (PAC, BellSouth, Ameritech, etc) went very smooth and the organization was well planned and people movement thoughtful. When SWBT purchased AT&T NJ business units (mobility, consumer, business, network, other) and adopted the "T" name again the merger went well, and organizations adapted, integrated, and thrived. However, the DTV deal to most legacy AT&T employees feels like a complete hodgepodge mess. It appears strategy, cross-group communication, and organizational integration has been an abysmal failure with HR support nonexistent. Mobility groups do not trust the DTV marketing teams. And the common denominator is that employees routinely are blaming the entertainment group leader, Stankey. The DTV directors mostly think T is full of slow procedures and processes, and is killing their once creative, vibrant business. Neither team is trusting the other. Some are going so far as to say that the DTV executive team is largely incompetent, and vice versa. Mobility teams are frustrated and find DTV folks unwilling to learn the core wireless/telecom business practices, and Call Centers & Network Teams are so frustrated they are completely feeling disenfranchised. Across the consumer franchise there appears to be such disapproval that folks feel financial targets might be at risk due to the poor inability to quickly integrate and go to market with substantial new offerings. Workers feel competitors are taking market share week by week. The consensus surrounding intelligence gained across core T hubs (Dallas, Atlanta, NJ,) is that something has to change for the better quickly. This is random regurgitation of what was communicated in one external fact finding survey. You may be the happiest employee on the block, or not! Thoughts?
10 replies (most recent on top)
The fact that DirecTV was bought by AT&T instead of buying AT&T proved incompetence. Isn't it obvious ?
Some really great posts in this thread. After the ISM mess, I'm not sure how anyone can accuse DTV leadership of being the incompetent ones.
I was in the old AT outdated business practices, rollback of cost efficient models, reactive instead of proactive responses and the list goes on. Your company being bought out doesn't mean the buyer was smarter or faster. It all comes down to greed, corporate back room deals and who gets the golden parachute when all is said and done. We must not forget that it is us, in the trenches, that ultimately bear the burden
This post and the comments are interesting. It was pretty clear from the beginning that there is a high level of distrust between the people in both organizations, and that suspicion and discomfort seems to have only grown as a result of the last six months -- particularly the last two.
I'll leave you to decide which executive group bears the greatest blame for the poor handling of the re-org and reduction in employees.
But these accusations of incompetence are just ridiculous. If DTV was managed by a cadre of incompetent boobs, how did they ever reach the position they did? If AT&T were managed by a group of semi-retarded idiots, how have they been able to maintain their position?
I personally see the animosity more as an outgrowth of the fact that the AT&T mobility team and the DIRECTV team came from two very different businesses and cultures, not only in terms of product and technology, but even to the point of geographical differences that shape the workforce. We in LA see the hokey, syrupy folksy Texas thing as a joke at best and completely insincere at worst. Having a big smile, some polite words, and hospitality quickly becomes fake once you realize that the drawl & "aw shucks" attitude hides a knife aimed at your guts.
And I have a feeling that the Texas folks aren't quite fond of the LA attitude.
Hopefully as things begin to settle and the two groups begin to work more closely with one another this "us vs them" thing will start to fade away. Or at least give way to grudging respect and a recognition that we DTV guys know our stuff just as you AT&T guys do.
This is exactly what they want to do: divide. It's pretty interesting that DTV management is being labeled "incompetent" considering the company was not in financial trouble when AT&T came calling, unlike other acquisitions by T. DTV shareholders agreed to the acquisition by T because the market was saturated, so while the business was still making money, it wasn't making "new" money in terms of acquiring new customers. T's Uverse offering is pathetic and the company was (and maybe still is) bleeding money. The wireless component, it's primary revenue flow, was becoming stagnant in the shadow of competition. T's policies and procedures are not innovative or employee friendly. They are meant to provide the largest dividend to stockholders, like Mr. Stephenson and Mr. Stankey, that is possible to fool them that the business is not looking down a rabbit hole in the next few years. They've simply bitten off more than they can chew, and the people they need they get rid of because they communicate this concern are the very ones they need to keep. The idea that directors and managers within DTV are overpaid and incompetent is, frankly, hilarious when you look at the title-heavy T leadership hierarchy. T does not look to out of the box thinking. It continues to promote from within with people who have those embarrassingly useless badges for taking "coursework" through T University. Seriousy, it's laughable. Case in point: a group of DIRECTV L&D folks were trained for the ISM rollout in Dallas by a T trainer of over 10 years with the company (these were existing trainers and employee job coaches with DTV). The methods were outdated, the training scattered and incomplete, and the connectivity for an internet company at their hub was only more slightly more embarrassing. That T trainer was then promoted to what T calls a "lead training manager". Fascinating but not surprising. AT&T has screwed up the entire transition and due to this fact have truly alienated and disenfranchised legacy employees from both companies. Stephenson and Stankey should be scrutinized a bit more closely by stockholders. This moving of everything to vendors, whether domestic or overseas, invites a huge disconnect in their control over quality. Without good oversight and quality control, customers are going to flock to other companies that provide it only slightly better. They don't have to be perfect because AT&T is so terrible.
Yahoo was once worth $255B and now it will be bought for perhaps $8B. So, there are no amount of money that will save AT&T from stupidity. AT&T is bringing in billions mostly of wireless but how much liability are they raking in? How much cash do they have for future expansion? What is their net income? Meanwhile TMobile is getting better and most likely overtake AT&T as being number 2 carrier. Google is pressuring AT&T on fiber and Amazon and Netflix on streaming. AT&T is spread out in many places without edequate plans of how to compete in all these markets. AT&T is a titanic which is beginning to take water and sinking.
Lol, history in 3-5 years. You're delusional. This company rakes in billions every quarter despite senior leadership's incompetence. They aren't going to tank that quickly.
AT&T is a dinosaur & it does not fit the DirecTV character in any shape or form. DirecTV was an innovative and dynamic company based on Satellite to home broadcast and it should have bought Netflix when it could a few years ago. The marriage of AT&T & DirecTV is a miserable failure. The broadcast part of AT&T, called Uverse is absolutely a miserable failure, and AT&T instead of learning from DirecTV, it is imposing its wrong policies & procedures on the DirecTV personnel who have given their heart and soul to DirecTV in the last 20 years.
At this time, I am seeing that all the brilliant engineers from DirecTV are looking to get other jobs and leave the company, and quite a few have already done that.
I have never seen morale so low as it is today. I have absolutely no doubt that this merger is doomed.
JMHO.
I am not surprised a bit. In fact, I expected everything you said right from the start.
I posted earlier about DirecTV management incompetence. The moment I learned AT&T would hire Sony to help with integration, I knew the merger would be a disaster. The only way to save this merger is to fire all DirecTV management and overpaid directors, get rid of Sony consultants, form an alliance with EchoStar/Netflix for synergy. Only then, AT&T can be saved. Otherwise, AT&T/DTV will be history in another 3-5 years, atmost.
None of this is a surprise, from the beginnings SBC's attempts at rebuilding the deathstar, their MO has always been to try to force-choke new acquisitions into compliance. It'll work here also, if only because they'll eventually ship off as many. DTV jobs overseas as they can. Very interesting read, though.