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Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elwood P. Dowd who wrote (62263)	5/29/1999 11:45:00 PM
From: Elwood P. Dowd	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

Schism in Management blamed for CPQ Woe by: cbpeng 77646 of 77649 Houston Chronicle on Sunday has a front page long article detailing internal power struggles in the last year of Eckhard Pfeiffer's tenure. Here are some highlights: (1) There are two teams in the senior management, team A consists of Pfeiffer, CFO Earl Mason, enterprise computing group senior VP John Rose and senior VP Hans Gutsch (German, human resources), team B was "everyone else". The team A got instant access to Pfeiffer, the team B frequently found themselves waiting for long hours outside CEO's office (2) Insiders say a divided management team - split by petty infighting and outright grabs for power - had become distant from Pfeiffer. Many of the middle level managers lost faith in the high management team. Pfeiffer did not want to hear bad news, and some member in A team did not want Pfeiffer to hear it. (3) Hans Gutsch was a master of corporate politics, pitting senior vice presidents against each other and inserting himself in every aspects of the company. Gutsch is a German, he has been the subject of at least two financial settlements negotiated between board of directors and individuals claming samage in sexual harassment related cases. "Hans believed very strongly in managers competing with one another, but honest communications stop in that kind of enviroment. People stop working together". (4) Hans controls everyone's access to CEO Pfeiffer. He was fearful that any person would get a one-on-one with CEO. He built an extensive security system around CEO and VP's offices. Many VP's said that they suspected their emails were read and phone conversations were recorded. Hans Gutsch also had security systems installed in the homes of senior executives. (5) One VP said reports that he and others send to Pfeiffer were heavily filtered. Gutsch and Mason (CFO) would not let that information through. (6) Hans Gutsch is still at Compaq, Pfeiffer and Mason were kicked out. Posted: 05/29/99, 11:02PM EDT as a reply to: Msg 77641 by Perfectinvestor View Replies to this Message Related Links Quote & News Profile Research Insider