Functional Areas in Business Organizations - Definition and Key Areas

This report discusses the definition and key functional areas of a business organization such as marketing, human resource management, customer service, finance, research and development, and sales. It also explores the skills needed by employees to work effectively in these functional areas. The report concludes that functional areas have a huge significance in a business organization.

BSc (Hons) Business Management with
Foundation
BMP3004
World of Work
Functional Areas
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Contents
1.0 Introduction 4
2.0 What is a business? 4
3.0 What is Functional areas of business – Definition
4
4.0 What are the key functional areas of a business?
4
5.0 Description of the various functional areas in business
organizations 5-6
5.1 Marketing
5.2 Human Resource Management 5
5.3 Customer Service 5
5.4 Finance 5
5.5 Research and Development 6
5.6 Sales 6
6.0 Description of the types of skills needed by employees
to be able to work effectively in these functional areas
6-8
6.1 Skills needed by Marketing employees 6
6.2 Skills needed by Human Resource Management employees
7
6.3 Skills needed by Customer Service employees
7
6.4 Skills needed by Finance employees 7
6.5 Skills needed by Research and Development employees
8
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6.6 Skills needed by Sales employees 8
7.0 Conclusion 8
References 9
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1.0 Introduction
Functional areas of a business is referred as the group of employees that
tend to have a same kind of requirement for the skill sets as well as knowledge.
Functional areas can be referred as the teams of the employees that tend to have a
similar sets of skills as well as experience in the field. The organizations have
several functional areas for several reasons (Li and et.al., 2022). The first reason
can be that it is quite efficient to occupy the staff that has the similar groups
altogether. There are various kinds of functional areas in an organization such as
finance, sales, human resource, marketing, Production, etc.
2.0 What is a business?
Business can be referred to an organization or the enterprise that is engaged
in the commercial, industrial as well as the professional activity. The business can be
established as a profit entity as well as a non profit entity. The businesses
established with profit motive are termed as profit making entity whereas the
businesses established with an intention of charitable mission or with a social cause
can be referred as the non profit organization.
3.0 What is Functional areas of business - Definition
Functional areas can be referred as the teams of the employees that tend to
have a similar sets of skills as well as experience in the field. The organizations have
several functional areas for several reasons. The first reason can be that it is quite
efficient to occupy the staff that has the similar groups altogether. The functional
areas of an organization facilitate teaming up in context to the projects which require
the expertise of the group. Also, in case one staff is not available even then the work
does not really suffer as there are backups available (Li and et.al., 2021).
4.0 What are the key functional areas of a business?
The crucial functional areas within a business are basically the broad
categories of the tasks performed by the organization. The key functional areas
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within a business are Marketing, Human resources, research and development,
sales, production, customer service, etc.
5.0 Description of the various functional areas in business
organizations
5.1 Marketing:
Marketing is referred as the function that identifies the demands and needs of
the customers. Several businesses consider that the businesses are marketing led.
The marketing function focuses upon keeping the customers first and considering
them as the first priority. The staff which is a part of marketing function is required to
make sure that they identify the needs of the customers. They play a significant role
in developing the products as well as services in order to meet the demands and
needs of the customers.
5.2 Human Resource Management:
The human resource management function tends to perform several functions
in order to advertise the job vacancies and further notify the staff regarding the
promotion opportunities. The human resource function of an organization further
performs the function of receiving as well as recording the several job applications
and also arranging the interviews and further notifying the candidates regarding the
results. The human resource department of an organization is further required to
send the contract of employment to the candidates post their selection also, they are
responsible for arranging the training of the staff in order to encourage the
professional development at the work place.
5.3 Customer Service:
The customer service function is performed by staff of the organization in
order to keep a track of the customer inquiries regarding the products and services.
The executives of the customer service are required to provide specialized
information in regard to the customer needs which can further be helpful in providing
the after sales services which include replacement of the damaged goods along with
the arrangement of the repair. Also, the customer service deals with several
customer complaints in accordance with the procedures of the organization.
5.4 Finance:
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Finance function is performed by the staff of the individuals in order to keep a
track of the streams of the income in the business. The finance function is required
to maintain the record of the money that is being spent by the businesses. The core
function of the finance team is to ascertain the financial position of the organization.
They are required to prepare a balance sheet as well as cash flow statements. It is
helpful in order to identify the sources of finance that can be used by the businesses
and also they perform the function to focus and further avoid unnecessary
expenditures (Karayeva and Seyidmedova, 2021).
5.5 Research and Development:
Research and development functional department is concerned with the task of
developing new products or further introduce several changes in the existing
products or the product lines. The research and development tends to introduce new
designs as in to meet with the needs and demands of the market after a proper
market research.
5.6 Sales:
The sales function in the functional department plays a major role in
advancement of the sales in order to enhance the revenue of the business
organization. The sales functional department is required to organize the sales
promotion for the business along with responding the several inquiries of the
customers. The function of the sales department in the organization is to sell the
products through the medium of telephone or through personal selling. The sales
functional department is required to prepare the quotations as well as the estimates
for the customers (Stawiarska and et.al., 2021).
6.0 Description of the types of skills needed by employees
to be able to work effectively in these functional areas
6.1 Skills needed by Marketing employees:
The skills needed by the marketing employee have been discussed below.
 Communication skills- The communication skills are considered significant by
the marketing employees in order to convey the information regarding the
products and the services to the customers.
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 Innovation skills- The innovation skills are required by marketing employees in
order to enhance creativity in order to attract the customers towards the
organization (Chen and Wang, 2021).
6.2 Skills needed by Human Resource Management employees:
The skills needed by the Human Resource Management employee have been
discussed below.
 Employee relations- The employee relation skills are important for the
employee of the Human resource management in order to have good
relations with the employees of the organization.
 Team work- Team work skills are important for the employees working as
Human resource management in order to work as a team and accomplish the
goals with grouped efforts.
6.3 Skills needed by Customer Service employees:
The skills needed by the customer service employee have been discussed below.
 Communication skills- Communication skills are important for the employees
working as the customer service in order to convey the information regarding
the queries of the customers.
 Empathy skills- The empathy skills are important in order to make the
customers feel secure and comfortable so that they can give positive
feedback.
6.4 Skills needed by Finance employees:
The skills needed by the Finance employee have been discussed below.
 Interpersonal skills- Interpersonal skills are important in order to properly
interact with the several stakeholders of the organization regarding the
financial status and performance of the organization.
 Qualifications- Qualifications are important for the employee of finance in
order to understand several financial concepts and apply them as well (Long
and et.al., 2021).
6.5 Skills needed by Research and Development employees:
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The skills needed by the Research and Development employee have been
discussed below.
 Communication skills- The communication skills are significant skills for the
Research and development employees in order to convey the information
regarding the requirement of products and the services to the management.
 Analytical skills- Analytical skills are important in order to analyze the several
aspects of the market that can help in deriving a specific solution to to the
problem.
6.6 Skills needed by Sales employees:
The skills needed by the sales employee have been discussed below.
 Confidence- The employees of sales department are required to have
confidence in order to convey the information to the customers without
hesitation.
 Active listening- Active listening skills are important for an individual working
as a sales employee in order to listen to the needs and demands of the
customers in an appropriate manner (Li and et.al., 2021).
Conclusion
The report concludes that functional areas have a huge significance in a
business organization. Functional areas of a business can be referred as the group
of employees that tend to have a same kind of requirement for the skill sets as well
as knowledge. The functional areas of an organization facilitate teaming up in
context to the projects which require the expertise of the group. Also a Business can
be referred to an organization or the enterprise that is engaged in the commercial,
industrial as well as the professional activity. The study highlights that each
functional area is performed by the individuals which have the required competency
and qualifications as well.
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References
Li, S. and et.al., 2021. Optimize and control territorial spatial functional areas to
improve the ecological stability and total environment in karst areas of
Southwest China. Land Use Policy, 100, p.104940.
Long, Z. and et.al., 2021. Contamination, sources and health risk of heavy metals in
soil and dust from different functional areas in an industrial city of Panzhihua
City, Southwest China. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 420, p.126638.
Chen, X. and Wang, J., 2021. Quantitatively Determining the Priorities of Regional
Ecological Compensation for Cultivated Land in Different Main Functional
Areas: A Case Study of Hubei Province, China. Land, 10(3), p.247.
Stawiarska, E. and et.al., 2021. Diagnosis of the Maturity Level of Implementing
Industry 4.0 Solutions in Selected Functional Areas of Management of
Automotive Companies in Poland. Sustainability, 13(9), p.4867.
Karayeva, Z.S. and Seyidmedova, L.G., 2021. Transport Logistics is One of the
Functional Areas of Logistics.
Li, B. and et.al., 2022. Integrating urban morphology and land surface temperature
characteristics for urban functional area classification. Geo-spatial
Information Science, pp.1-16.
Li, Y. and et.al., 2021, February. Assessment of Heavy Metals in Sediments of
Different Functional Areas along the Yangzong Lake Coast, Yunnan
Province. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol.
668, No. 1, p. 012016). IOP Publishing.
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