[Author]
The Vision and Mission Statements
Vision Statement
“Monster Worldwide, Inc. is the global leader in successfully connecting job opportunities and people. Monster uses the world’s most advanced technology to help people Find Better, matching jobs seekers to opportunities via digital, social and mobile solutions including monster.com®, our flagship website, and employers to the best talent using a vast array of products and services” (“Our Company,” 2014).
Mission Statement
“To help people find better, not only at work, but in life” (“Our Company,” 2014).
Recent Challenges and New Strategic Plan
Sales and Profitability Downturns in Careers-International
In 2012, revenue in the Careers-International segment decreased 11.9 percent from its 2011 revenue (“Business,” 2013). Its operating expenses driven by high salaries and related expenses comprised 91.7 percent of revenue compared to 82.6 percent in 2011. The revenue further deteriorated in 2013, dropping 17.8 percent, and total operating expenses reaching 103.7 percent, with salaries and related expenses comprising 52.4 percent of revenue. Career-North American also experienced decreased revenue; but only at 4.6 percent in 2012 and 3.6 percent in 2013.
The deteriorating market conditions forced Monster Worldwide to sell its Careers-China business in the third quarter of 2012, and then discontinued its operations in Latin America and Turkey on or before 31 December 2012. To prepare for this “restructuring,” the Company notified 325 employees to voluntarily resign with severance package on 24 January 2012. Additional 60 employees took the offer, resulting to a workforce reduction of 385 employees. Through 31 December 2013, a total of 400 employees from North America and Europe (outside from the discontinued operations) received notification to voluntarily resign with severance package.
In the fourth quarter of 2013, the Company sold its minority interest (49.99 percent) in JobKorea Ltd. for $90.0 million.
New Strategic Plan
With the restructuring plan completed, Monster Worldwide prepared to create a positive momentum in 2013 for more optimistic results in 2014.
Old Vision: Successfully connecting people and job opportunities (Iannuzzi, 2013).
New Mission: To continue to lead the global recruiting market, maintain the widest range of job opportunities across the employment spectrum, and delivering the most diverse talent to fill those positions (Iannuzzi, 2013).
Objectives: (1) For corporate customers: Unparalleled access to talent across the globe; (2) For job seekers: Broader set of career opportunities; (3) For Shareholders: A stronger business for the near and long term (Iannuzzi, 2013).
Evaluation of the Vision and Mission Statements
Consistency with the New Objectives
Vision consistency: There is no new vision for Monsters Worldwide. It still envisions maintaining its achievement in “successfully connecting people and job opportunities.”
Mission consistency: The old mission had nothing what the new mission possesses. The new mission is more specific, satisfying five components of the MCM Nine-Component Test (“Component,” 2014), such as customers (“corporate customers”; “job seekers”), services (“global recruiting”), markets (“global market”), self-concept (partly in “continue to lead”), and concern for public image (superior service indirectly expressed in the entire mission statement). It failed to incorporate its basic technology (component #4 Technology), economic objectives (#5 Concerns for survival, growth, and profitability), philosophy (#6), and concern for employees (#9).
Vision Statement: Ambler’s 10 Characteristics (Ambler, 2013)
The “Our Company” (2014) webpage showed no clear statement of Vision. The Vision statement obtained for this essay came from the first sentences in its History, the location being the most likely place an unlabeled Vision statement will be found.
1-5. Future focused, directional, clear, relevant and purpose-driven: The Monster Worldwide (Monster) vision statement does not have focus to the future as it assumed to have already arrived in the future. It claims it is already the “global leader.” It has no direction, either. Without future-focus, direction will be inevitably absent, too. It is clear in what it had envisioned and ‘have done’ in “successfully connecting job opportunities and people.” The readers know that its services involve matching job seekers to job opportunities. Implicitly, it is relevant as it is an extension of the Company’s past through the catch phrase “successfully connecting job opportunities and people,” which had been used since its early beginnings. Somewhere in its corporate history, Monster recalled its origin in 1994 as the pioneer in “digital recruiting.” It no longer consists of a purpose that will be achieved in the future. Instead, its purpose (“successfully connecting job opportunities and people”) is something ‘already achieved,’ and the Company has nothing left to do but to continue doing it, maintain its ‘successful connecting’ activities. The purpose apparently is a never-ending objective.
6-10. Values based, challenging, unique, vivid, and inspiring: The phrase “world’s most advanced technology” reflects its fourth Value (Innovate Relentlessly). The Company will achieve its Vision through the use of “digital, social and mobile solutions,” which includes its “flagship website” called monster.com®. Its second Value (Before Us, the Customer) appeared to refer to the phrases, “job opportunities and people,” “matching job seekers and opportunities,” and “matching employers to the best talent.” However, the connections seemed inadequate, vague, and generate a feeling of reference to different sets of people. The Value expresses a passion to satisfy; the vision phrases felt differently. The keywords used are entirely distinct: “people” vs. “customers”; “matching” vs. “satisfaction and loyalty.” It also sounded bland and uneventful. The sense of ‘arrival’ implied gives off a feeling of unchallenging, unexciting. The uniqueness of being “global,” “leader,” and “matching” still holds somehow, but already weakened. Zaib (2012) still recognized Monsters as “the largest job searching website in the world.” Although, Indeed was ranked the “best,” it is classified as “job meta-search engine.” The eBiz MBA (2014), however, ranked Monster second to Indeed in terms of estimated unique monthly visitors of 23 million vs. 36 million. It is vivid enough to be understandable and accessible to the imagination; but not in terms of “what it will be like in the future” (Ambler, 2013) due to its presumption of ‘arrival.’ Due to its lack driving purpose, the Vision statement felt uninspiring and passionless.
Mission Statement: The MCM Nine-Component Test
Old mission statement failed to describe customer characteristics (“Components,” 2014), losing it behind the generic word “people.” It showed a basic philosophy of helping people “find better, not only at work, but in life.” This also alluded to how it wants to come across publicly, as a “helping” company. The rest of the components are absent: products or services, markets, technology, concern for survival, growth, and profitability, self-concept, and concern for employees. The way the mission looked, it appeared more like its Vision instead of its Mission.
References
“Components of an effective mission statement.” McMurry University. (Accessed on 10
October 2014) Retrieved from:
http://www.mcm.edu/~lapointp/missionstatementcomponents.html
“Our company: Monster Worldwide’s history, mission and goals.” Monster.com. (Accessed
on 10 October 2014) Retrieved from: http://www.monster.com/about/our-company
“Part I, Item 1: Business.” Find Better: 2013 Annual Report. Weston, MA: Monster
Worldwide, Inc.; p.1-5. Retrieved from:
http://ir.monster.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=110723&p=irol-reportsAnnual
“Top 15 most popular job websites.” eBiz MBA, October 2014. Retrieved from:
http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/job-websites
Ambler, G. (2013, February 3). 10 Characteristics of an effective vision. Georgeambler.com.
Retrieved from: http://www.georgeambler.com/10-characteristics-of-an-effective-vision/
Iannuzzi, S. (2013). “To our shareholders, customers, employees and friends.” Find Better:
2013 Annual Report. Weston, MA: Monster Worldwide, Inc.; PDF file p.3-4 Retrieved from:
http://ir.monster.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=110723&p=irol-reportsAnnual
Zaib, Q. (2012, June 8). 10 Best websites to find jobs worldwide. MBT. Retrieved from:
http://www.mybloggertricks.com/2012/06/10-best-websites-to-find-jobs-worldwide.html
