Spark trims senior leadership team, will flatten structure from FY19

Monday 12th March 2018

Spark New Zealand will trim its senior leadership team as it shifts to a flatter, less hierarchical structure from the September quarter.

From July, Spark's leadership team will consist of managing director Simon Moutter, customer director Jolie Hodson, finance director Dave Chalmers, human resources director Joe McCollum, product director Claire Barber, and technology director Mark Beder, it said in a statement. A marketing director is still to be appointed.

Spark Ventures chief Ed Hyde will leave the country's biggest telecommunications company by the end of June, with his unit being integrated into the wider business, while interim head of home, mobile and business Grant McBeath will return to his previous role in charge of consumer and small and medium enterprise sales.

Moutter said the company was adopting an "Agile model" involving "self-managing teams, each with clear accountabilities, who collaborate quickly and effectively with one another to deliver great products and services".

"In this model, business leaders act as catalysts, showing direction and setting up the systems for people to do their jobs effectively," he said.

Auckland-based Spark settled on adopting Agile earlier this year, with Moutter saying the greater autonomy of individual units was showing "significant benefit". That's part of a broader transformation programme to increase digitisation and automation and simplify its procedures as the highly competitive telco sector seeks margin through improved productivity.

An IDC report issued last week questioned whether current low margins and the large number of providers in the sector would prove sustainable, with cost-cutting and mergers likely among the more than 90 players in the broadband internet market.

The company is still deciding on whether to accelerate the programme, which would increase costs recognised in the current financial year.

Spark will update investors on the new operating model in the future, including any changes to how it reports earnings.

The shares rose 0.8 percent to $3.60, having slipped 1.7 percent so far this year.

(BusinessDesk)

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