Essay
The company under consideration is Zoni Language Centers, which is known as one of the leaders in teaching English language and in international college placement education.
Zoni Language Centers offer educational services to great many of students from all over the world.
The company’s head office is located in Manhattan, New York, USA. The schools are located in the United States of America and Canada.
When speaking of mission of a company, it is necessary to understand:
what it does
who the customer is, and
what it should look like to be realized.
According to its mission, Zoni is committed to apply its unique method of teaching foreign students English as a second or a foreign language. Moreover, Zoni Language Centers management team seems to realize that their ‘mission statement is essentially a communication tool which is used to further achievement’ (Hackley).
The goal is to help students eliminate language barriers, which they might come across with in their everyday life.
Those students who have studied English at Zoni Language Centers are able to interact with language learners from all over the world.
A vision statement for Zoni Language Centers focuses on the perspective of the potential future of the company. I personally view vision statement as some kind of mental picture of what the company plans to achieve within some particular set periods of time. It helps the majority of employees to understand the direction the whole company moves in and it also helps them to plan their career development accordingly. In comparison to Mission statement, vision statement may be adjusted or slightly changed. Much depends on the circumstances.
The company intends to provide international students with an opportunity to learn how to speak, read and write in English within the shortest possible period.
Zoni continuously works at its improvement. It expands and innovates curricula and technologies. Zoni helps non-native English speakers feel at ease with the language and themselves. The general system of values for Zoni Language Centers include such as diversity, compassion, integrity and openness.
I find it necessary for a company to have Mission and Vision statements written in a detailed way for any company, no matter whether it is a large or a small one.
I think so because the absence of properly written statements inevitably results in the risk for any company to lose opportunities to:
hire / attract talented personnel with high potential,
build and retain basic organizational culture rules,
increase its productivity and improve overall performance at all organizational level of the company,
realize the plan of strategic goals implementation, etc.
I suppose that the organization’s strategic goals serve to satisfy its basic functions.
‘For competence management and human resource development to fully address a company’s future operations, one must first have a clear idea of where the company is heading’ (Laakso-Manninen and Viitala 2007, 16). So far, I think that these goals are closely connected with short-term and long-term planning, analysis and control over its performance, analyses of possible risks and challenges, work with the personnel, etc.
This language school educates students from more than a hundred countries worldwide. As it is said on the official web-site ‘Zoni is a melting pot of people from different national, cultural and ethnic backgrounds’ (Zoni Language Centers’ official website).
Zoni has identified its organizational core competencies from the point of view of effectiveness of teaching methods used by highly qualified teachers.
Besides, it is important to mention that Zoni Language Centers have received the certification from the Education Department of NY State and accreditation from ‘ACCET in Miami Beach and from Languages Canada in Vancouver, Canada’ (Zoni Language Centers’ official website).
The USA based Zoni Language Centers are known as SEVIS-approved educational centers.
As I personally see it, Zoni’s competencies demonstrate that the company is aware of its competitive advantages.
Zoni’s top management focuses on the growth and development of the company what inevitably leads to its differentiation in the market.
Periodic analysis of the organization’s portfolio of core competencies undertaken by Zoni Language Centers managements once revealed a gap.
That resulted in the schools located in Miami Beach and Manhattan specialization; these schools are eventually authorized to test students for TOEFL and Cambridge ESOL Examinations.
In my opinion, Zoni Language Centers’ current behavior and business goals are definitely aligned to its mission, vision, values, and core competencies.
I believe that Zoni Language School lives up to its mission, vision and values. It carries its social responsibility, which is ‘a management concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and interactions with their stakeholders’ (Kumar 2015). ‘Mission statements are said to be an inseparable part of corporate strategy because they have an impact on performance’ (Sufi 2003, 255).
Zoni Language Centers are popular among people from all over the world. The cost of education is available. The rates are very moderate. The schedule offered to the working students is very comfortable. One may choose to study during any time of the day.
During the working week, it operates from 10 am to 10 pm and it also has classes available during the weekend. Students are able to choose any schedule that suits them in accordance with the life plan and working schedule.
Truly speaking, it is really very convenient and pleasant to get a chance to learn or to master English language within a friendly environment created by the war-hearted personnel of Zoni Language Centers.
Highly qualified teaching staff continuously works at the improvement of performance. Their student-oriented teaching approach is based on the eclectic methodology, which includes ‘the Direct Method, Total Physical Response, the Communicative Approach and Cooperative Learning’ (Zoni Language Centers’ official website).
English language practice is compulsory; all the students are expected to be involved in the immediate language practice. This way they are made to produce language structures and dialogues in the atmosphere of real life circumstances and fun (Zoni Language Centers’ official website).
What I like about this school is that no matter what background a student comes from, he is welcome to share his life experiences with his groupmates.
Zoni Language Centers offers its students highly qualified teaching staff, proper guidance and all the necessary and required resources to become successful in learning English and acquiring language proficiency.
Mission, vision and core values of the company deserves due respect as they truly help the students feel the rhythm of life and learn English as a second language in the shortest possible period of time.
Quite an amazing fact is to find out Zoni Language School history took place when Zoilo Nieto, its founder, came to New York and founded the school with 3 000 USD on the credit card.
The founder of the school Zoilo Nieto was the first person to formulate basic Mission and Vision statements, which helped him to foresee the company’s future development. Without a plan, it is impossible to achieve any result or to make any plan work out.
Since those times, or in other words from the very beginning the school, the school has been working to make English one of the most available key instruments, which foreigners may use to enjoy their lives.
Personally, I see Zoni Language Centers as one of the best and most loyal employers.
This school continues to seek for new opportunities, to do its utmost to make people recognize its values, to share their values, to make students treat the representatives of different countries with due respect and dignity.
Zoni Language Centers continuously look for new markets and new environment in order to implement the latest innovations into real life practice.
As I see it, many educational institutions have faced challenges over the last decade or two. In order not just to survive, but to thrive they had to:
be able to adjust to globalization processes,
be ready to apply the technological innovations,
constantly reconsider their organizational structure.
In this regard, Zoni Language Centers staff managed to overcome possible difficulties and continues to work at their overall performance betterment. The company has become more focused, more flexible, efficient and more students’ needs oriented.
According to Laakso-Manninen and Viitala (2007), ‘A company’s success is most often based on a unique and rare ability to do something well. Such a company has also had the courage to focus on this ability and actively seek new applications for it’ (Laakso-Manninen and Viitala 2007, 16).
References
Hackley, C. (2007). Mission statements as corporate communications: consequences of social constructionism. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/22806308/Mission_statements_as_corporate_communications_the_consequences_of_social_constructionism
Kumar, M. (2015). Corporate Social Responsibility: Mission Possible. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/15877285/Corporate_Social_Responsibility_Mission_Possible
Laakso-Manninen, R., Viitala, R. (2007). Competence Management and Human Resource Development. A theoretical framework for understanding the practices of modern Finnish organisations. Haaga-Helia. Retrieved from http://www.haaga-helia.fi/sites/default/files/Kuvat-ja-liitteet/Palvelut/Julkaisut/hrdweb.pdf
Sufi, T. (2003). Mission statements exposed. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 15/5, 255-262. Retrieved from http:/www.emeraldinsight.com/0959-6119.htm
Zoni Language Centers: Uniting the World through Language. 2014. Web. 26 June 2016. ‹http://www.zoni.com›
