Functional Areas of Business and Required Skills for Employees

The report discusses the various functional areas of business, such as marketing, finance, human resources, research and development, and sales. It also highlights the skills and competencies required by employees to work efficiently in these areas. The report is based on IOM Electronics Ltd, a regional organization with 200 employees based in Manchester and Liverpool.

Business management
and foundation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
What is Business?.......................................................................................................................3
What is functional area in the business?.....................................................................................3
What are the key functional areas of business?..........................................................................4
Description of the various functional areas in business organizations............................................4
Description of the types of skills needed by employees to be able to work effectively in these
functional areas...........................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Business id defined as the legal entity which is engaged in various activities such as commercial,
industrial and others with the objective of earning profits. In business various functional areas
are developed that help business to perform business operations in efficient manner for attaining
determined goals and objectives. In these functional areas, employees are appoint according to
their skills and specialisation that enables business to run business in proper way. The report is
based on IOM Electronics Ltd owned by John. It is well-known regional organisation with
having 200 employees and it is based over two sites Manchester and Liverpool. This report
covers various functional area of business as well as relevant skills required by employees to
work efficiently in these functional areas.
MAIN BODY
What is Business?
Business is considered as the entity which is involve in various economic activities such
as purchasing, selling, producing products and services for the purpose of earning profits and
satisfying needs and demands of customers. Businesses are established for both profit as well as
non-profit objectives in which business aims to achieve higher profitability or work for specific
social cause (Ferraro, 2021). In order to operate the business it is very required for the company
to you have particular aims and objectives in order to earn profit and achieve them in an
appropriate manner. A formal business plan is formulates by the organisation that lead business
operations and efforts of employees in right direction and help to achieve determined goals and
objectives on time with efficiency.
What is functional area in the business?
Functional area is defined as the term of employees with having similar skills as well as
expertise to perform business operations in efficient manner. Businesses are organised with
different functional areas that help business to run business activities properly and attain
determined goals and objectives. It is very important for organisation to have staff with having
similar skills are grouped together that enable business to complete their work on time with great
effectiveness (Ivanova, and Vardanyan, 2021). In business various functional areas are
formulated for performing specific activities such as marketing, finance, operations, human
resource management and various others.

What are the key functional areas of business?
There are various functional areas are developed by the IOM electronics limited company
like human resources management, finance management, marketing, production and sales that
help business to perform determined task in efficient manner and attain business goals and
objectives properly. Proper development of functional areas and appoint employees with similar
skills and competencies help business to sustain in competitive business environment and lead its
efforts towards attaining success.
Description of the various functional areas in business organizations
In business several functional areas are developed that help business to operate its
functions in efficient manner in specific marketplace. Each and every functional area performs
specific functions such as human resource management helps business to recruit suitable
employees who can contribute in attaining business goals and objectives. On the other hand,
functional area of accounting and finance is responsible for developing budget, forecast
requirement of budget, allocate finance at different level of organisation and take effective
decisions for maintaining financial stability in business (Julien, ed., 2018). Marketing helps
business to promote organisational products and service for enhancing awareness regarding
products and gaining competitive advantages. Operations and sales are the most important
functional area of business that are related to producing products and services according to needs
and demands of customer and sale them in market for earning profits. Different functional areas
of business are mentioned below:
Marketing: Marketing is defined as the activities that are related to promoting
organisational products and service in market with the objective of gaining potential market
opportunities and maintaining large customer base. Now these days, businesses use digital
marketing and social media platforms to communicate information regarding products and
services as well as resolve their problems and queries regarding products and brand. It maintains
effective relationship with customers and enhances organisational overall efficiency and
effectiveness to sustain in competitive market place.
Human resources management: Human resource management is the important
functional area of business that helps business to appoint suitable and talented candidates in
specific job position is organisation (Kennedy, 2017). HR manager conducts training and
development programmes for employees that improves their skills and competencies that enables

to perform in efficient manner and contribute in business success and development. HR
department of responsible for developing positive working environment and resolve complaints
and issues of employees properly that enhances their working performance and productivity.
Customer service: Business is established with the objective of providing quality
products and services to customers for satisfying their needs and demands as well as earning
profits. Customer service is the most important functional area of business in which organisation
resolve problems of customers and provide them better experience with organisation that retain
them for longer period of time. It helps business to maintain strong relationship with customers
and gain market opportunities (Kusiak, 2018). Organisation provides information to customers
that builds trust of customers towards brand.
Finance: Finance is the essential functional area of business that helps business to
manage financial condition of business. It is responsible for developing budget of business
activities and allocate financial resources at all hierarchical level of business so, every
department can perform its operations in efficient manner. Finance managers of organisation
take decisions regarding investment and prepare salary for employees.
Research and development: Research and development is the functional area that help
business to research about employees and identify the requirement of training and development
that facilitates employees to perform defined operations in most appropriate manner.
Organisation also conduct research in market for analysing customer's needs, demands and
preferences as well as current marketing trends that helps business to stay relevant and attain
potential marketing opportunities.
Sales: Sales department of organisation is related to providing quality products and
services to customer in market against determined prices. Organisations design strong logistic
network to enhance sales and profitability of business. Sales department monitors sales of
business and develop various policies that improves business sales ratio.
Description of the types of skills needed by employees to be able to work effectively in these
functional areas
Skills needed by marketing employees
There are various skills and competencies that are needed to have in marketers for
performing marketing operations efficiently communication skills that help to connect with
customers and analyse marketing trends properly (Olivia and Dedzo, 2017). Confidence and

ability to persuade other are the skills that help marketing manager to promote organisational
products and service in efficient manner.
Skills needed by human resources management employees
Human resource managers requires various skills like taking responsibility of their
actions, leading employees, ability to work in team, influence to employees for enhancing their
engagement towards attaining business goals and objectives. Effective planning, problem
solving, and effective communication skills are important for HR employees to manage
employees in organisation.
Skills needed by Finance employees
There are some basic and advance skills that are needs for finance employees for
performing operations related to finance in proper manner such as ability to analyse financial
documents, analytical thinking, knowledge and understanding of financial statement that enable
employees to perform financial operation properly.
Skills needed by Research and development employees
Employees who are related to research and development department requires verbal
communication skill, interpretation skills writing skills and analytical thinking that help
employees to collect data and use them in organisation for attaining various market opportunities
(Snihur,and Zott, 2020). Employees needs to have initiative and attentive skill that help bring
innovation in organisation after conducting depth research.
Skills needed by customer service employees
It is very important for customer service employees to have clear, strong communication
skill, persuading power and problem solving skill that enable them to maintain effective relation
with customers and retain them with organisation for longer period of time. Along with these
skills, it is very important to employees to have proper understanding and information of
customers and how to resolve them problems with the purpose of enhancing their experience
with organisation.
Skills needed by Sales employees
Sales employees need to have effective listening, relationship building and time
management skills to persuade customers for purchasing organisational products and services
(Tsiotas, Axelis and Polyzos, 2021). Apart from that, negotiation skill, maintaining positive
attitude and working as the part of team helps sales employees to enhance sales of organisation.

These are the skills and competencies that are essential for employees related to each
functional area of business in order to perform their operations with efficiency (Wheeler, 2017).
Working of all functional areas are interrelated with each other that help business to attain
determined goals and objectives with efficiency and effectiveness.
CONCLUSION
As per the above report, it can be concluded that in business various functional areas are
operated in which specialised employees perform related task for attaining organisational goals
and objectives with efficiency. Organisation ensures that capable employees are appointed in
each functional areas with having specific skills and competencies to perform defined operations
in efficient manner. Business manager takes various effective decisions to manage employees
and lead their efforts towards right direction.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ferraro, G. P., 2021. The cultural dimension of international business. Prentice Hall.
Ivanova, T. B. and Vardanyan, A.A., 2021. Improvement Estimation Accuracy of Futures for
Small Business Effective Functional Development.
Julien, P. A. ed., 2018. The state of the art in small business and entrepreneurship. Routledge.
Kennedy, J. P., 2017. Functional redundancy as a response to employee theft within small
businesses. Security Journal, 30(1), pp.162-183.
Kusiak, A., 2018. Smart manufacturing. International Journal of Production Research, 56(1-2),
pp.508-517.
Olivia, A. T. and Dedzo, B. Q., 2017. Cross-cultural competence and functional diversity in
business negotiations: a developing country’s perspective. In Advances in Cross-
Cultural Decision Making (pp. 85-98). Springer, Cham.
Snihur, Y. and Zott, C., 2020. The genesis and metamorphosis of novelty imprints: How business
model innovation emerges in young ventures. Academy of Management Journal, 63(2),
pp.554-583.
Tsiotas, D., Axelis, N. and Polyzos, S., 2021. A methodological framework for defining city
dipoles in urban systems based on a functional attribute. Cities, 119, p.103387.
Wheeler, A., 2017. Designing brand identity: an essential guide for the whole branding team.
John Wiley & Sons.