Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) went on the defensive last week after BGR published an anonymous open letter reportedly from a high-level RIM executive criticizing the company's management and warning of sinking morale. At the same time, the RIM board of directors said it will take a closer look at the company's management structure, including its famous co-CEO team of Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, who are also co-chairmen. 

In the open letter, the anonymous executive suggested that the BlackBerry maker should focus more on the user experience rather than bowing to partner requests or concerns about strategic alignment. The executive made several other recommendations, including consolidating projects and becoming more developer-friendly.

Noting that it's "particularly difficult to believe that a 'high level employee' in good standing with the company would choose to anonymously publish a letter on the web rather than engage their fellow executives in a constructive manner," RIM responded by saying that senior management is addressing the company's challenges.

In the brief response, the company said that it's approaching the end of a major transition for both the business and its technology, and that the transition took longer than expected. RIM had to streamline operations following "an extended period of hyper growth," having quadrupled in size over the last five years. The company has almost $3 billion in cash, no debt, strong profits and substantial growth in the international arena, it said. 

In the meantime, the board of directors said it will put together an independent committee to examine RIM's management structure and clarify the roles of the co-CEOs, reports Stephen Lawson at Computerworld. One of RIM's shareholders, Northwest & Ethical Investments, has proposed to divide the roles of CEO and chair and create an independent chair. 

For more:
- see the anonymous RIM exec's open letter
- read RIM's response
- see Stephen Lawson's article at Computerworld

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