BT Northern Ireland

Summary

To create a coaching style of management and unlock the energy, contribution and creativity of the employee-base, BT Northern Ireland launched a corporate change programme called 'A Better Life'. This builds on previously successful BT initiatives.

Introduction

Belfast-headquartered BT Northern Ireland is a business unit of BT plc, one of the world's premier suppliers of telecommunications services and products, ranging from residential services to sophisticated network solutions for global businesses. BT plc earns more than £15 billion in annual revenues and has about 130,000 employees.

BT Northern Ireland has about 3000 employees and for 1997 reported revenues of around £265 million.

A History of Change

To understand culture change within BT Northern Ireland it is important to place it within a story of continuous, and often dramatic, corporate change within BT.

Until the mid 1980s BT was state-owned and, as part of the old Post Office structure, a monopolistic supplier of UK telecommunication services. It was then subject to a high profile privatization (during which a significant percentage of the UK population became shareholders for the first time), after which BT was out on its own and being prepared to face, what would become fierce competition for the first time in its history.

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