Chief executive Adam Crozier will now take day-to day charge of running the letters business on top of his wider strategic role. Executive deputy chairman Elmar Toime will also focus on the performance of the parcels business.
The move is designed to sort out deliveries and theft claims after the recent Channel 4 investigation that revealed a wave of criminal activity and Royal Mail's own admittance that it misdelivers more than 14m letters every year.
The changes were explained to a meeting of 1,500 managers late last week by Crozier and Royal Mail chairman Allan Leighton.
The moves are expected to be made over the next two months to improve performance.
Crozier has responded by admitting to problems in recent weeks, but said he was determined to get things right. He said that Royal Mail had introduced more changes in the past five months than some of its main competitors had in 10 years.
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