Functional Areas in Business Organizations - BMP3004 World of Work Report

This report discusses the definition of functional areas of business and the key functional areas of a business, including marketing, human resource management, customer service, finance, research and development, and sales. It also describes the skills needed by employees to work effectively in these functional areas. The report is based on the BMP3004 World of Work course for BSc (Hons) Business Management with Foundation.

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
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
6-7
6.1 Skills needed by Marketing employees 6
6.2 Skills needed by Human Resource Management employees
6
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
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6.6 Skills needed by Sales employees 7
7.0 Conclusion 8
References 9
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1.0 Introduction
In the smallest of the business, there are several tasks as well as functions that are
required to be performed on the regular basis. In the small sized business organizations, the
several tasks are performed by one or two individuals only. In the large organizations, the
staff tends to have a specialization for each task that is to be performed. In the large
organizations, it is quite easy to identify the separate functional areas within the businesses as
the people tend to work together as a team in form of departments. Each department has its
own set of functions that are performed by the staff of the organization (Xu and et.al 2021).
2.0 What is a business?
Business can be referred to the economic activity that are performed by an entity
which involves selling and purchasing of goods and services. The business can be established
with an intention of profit as well as charity. A particular business might can be established
with the help of choosing among several legal entities such as sole proprietorship,
partnership, Limited liability corporation, public company, etc. Businesses are established
after proper planning and have certain goals and objectives that are to be accomplished by the
business organizations.
3.0 What is Functional areas of business - Definition
The Functional areas of a business can be referred to the group of employees that tend
to have a same kind of requirement for the skill sets as well as knowledge. The main
objective behind the concept of functional areas is to ensure that the business activities are
performed at the organization in an effective and efficient manner. The functional business
are important in order to accomplish the aims and objectives of the business. There are
several kinds of functional areas such as marketing, sales, human resources, customer
services, etc. Each department has its own set of functions that are performed by the staff of
the organization (Peck, Cho and Holodny, 2021).
4.0 What are the key functional areas of a business?
The basic key functional areas that are performed at each organization are Marketing,
Customer service, Human resource Management, Finance, Research and Development and
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Sales. These perform their tasks based on their expertise and together help in accomplishment
of the organizational goals and objectives.
5.0 Description of the various functional areas in business
organizations
5.1 Marketing:
Marketing is a function that is performed by the business organizations wherein the
businesses tends to have effective marketing and advertising strategies which help in
promoting the mission and vision of the businesses. The motive of the business is to attract a
loyal customer base for the business in order to generate the revenues. The functions of the
marketing department is to define the brand, social media management as well as monitoring
and further promote the products (Muster And et.al., 2021).
5.2 Human Resource Management:
Human Resource function comprises of several functions which include recruitment
of people within the organization and it is the most considerate and well known task that is
performed by the human resource department. The human resource management function
performs its duties in order to make sure that the head count at the organization is filled. The
employees who tend to perform the functions of the human resource department is to ensure
that the people who are being recruited must have the required skills as well as experiences.
Further they perform duties in context of compensation as well as benefits.
5.3 Customer Service:
Customer service is referred to the function of the organizations that is performed in
order to interact with the customers as well as the customer service department. Customer
service function involves answering queries of the customers, order processing, addressing
concerns of the customers. Processing the orders as well as addressing the concerns and
complaints of the customers. The primary responsibility of the customer service department
is to establish good relationships with the customers (Pan and Tang, 2021).
5.4 Finance:
Finance department is considered as the lifeblood as the role of the finance function is
to take care of all the money matters. As, an organization can not operate until and unless the
organization has ample amount of cash flow which is required to establish the business. The
finance department is required to keep a track of the cash inflows as well as the cash
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outflows. They perform functions regarding the forecast as well as analysis of the financial
position of the business.
5.5 Research and Development:
The research and development function tends to have a crucial role to play in an
organization wherein the functional departments conducts a research regarding the scope of
development as well as the improvement of the business. The task of the department is to
conduct surveys and analyses further scope for the businesses to expand in order to incur
revenues and profits in the course of business (Mahmoudian and et.al., 2021).
5.6 Sales:
The sales function of the organization is to attract new clients or customers in order to
improve and expand the areas in context to the market of the business. The sales functional
team is to closely monitor the functioning of the organization and further evolve the growth
strategies in order to expand the business, increase the revenues and further fulfill the high
objectives.
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:
Skills required for the employees working as marketing personnel have been discussed
below-
 Innovation skills- The innovation skills will help marketing employees to enhance
creativity level in order to attract the customers towards the organization.
 Leadership skills- The leadership skills are important for the marketing employees so
that they can take initiative in order to conquer the market.
6.2 Skills needed by Human Resource Management employees:
Skills required for the employees working as Human Resource Management personnel have
been discussed below-
 Team work- Team working is important in order to promote team building at the
organization.
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 Communication skills- The communication skills are important for the human
resource management employees in order to convey the information and interact with
the several stakeholders.
6.3 Skills needed by Customer Service employees:
Skills required for the employees working as customer service personnel have been discussed
below-
 Empathy skills- The empathy skills are helpful in understanding the needs of the
customers and make them have a feeling of oneness.
 Persuasive speaking skills- The persuasive speaking skills are important in order to
influence the behavior of the customers so as to make them feel satisfied.
6.4 Skills needed by Finance employees:
Skills required for the employees working as Finance personnel have been discussed below-
 Qualifications- Qualification skills are considered important for the employee of
finance as it will help in having an in depth knowledge of the financial aspects.
 Technical skills- The technical skills are important in order to have knowledge
regarding the technology and software along with the technical knowledge of
financial field (Szarek-Iwaniuk, 2021).
6.5 Skills needed by Research and Development employees:
Skills required for the employees working as Research and Development personnel have been
discussed below-
 Analytical skills- It is important for a research and development personnel to have
analytical skills in order to analyze the several aspects of the market that can prove
helpful in deriving upon a solution for the problem.
 Reasoning skills- The reasoning skills will help the research and development
employees to have a backup in context to their statements.
6.6 Skills needed by Sales employees:
Skills required for the employees working as sales personnel have been discussed below-
 Active listening- Active listening skills are significant skills for a sales personnel in
order to listen to the needs and demands of the customers in an appropriate manner.
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 Rapport building- The sales employees are required to have rapport building skills in
order to develop a positive image so that they can easily attract the customers towards
the organization (Kucherova and et.al., 2021).
Conclusion
It can be concluded from the study that the functional areas have a crucial role to play
within the organization. Business can be referred to the economic activity that are performed
by an entity which involves selling and purchasing of goods and services. Further, the
Functional areas of a business can be referred to the group of employees that tend to have a
same kind of requirement for the skill sets as well as knowledge. The study concludes that
each functional are has their own responsibilities and tasks and further, the staff of each
functional department must have significant skills to perform the tasks.
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References
Xu, X. and et.al., 2021. MM-UrbanFAC: Urban Functional Area Classification Model Based
on Multimodal Machine Learning. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation
Systems.
Peck, K.K., Cho, N.S. and Holodny, A.I., 2021. Methods of analysis: functional MRI for
presurgical planning. Neuroimaging Clinics, 31(1), pp.23-32.
Muster, R.H. And et.al., 2021. The Relationship Between Stimulation Current and Functional
Site Localization During Brain Mapping. Neurosurgery, 88(6), pp.1043-1050.
Pan, D. and Tang, J., 2021. The effects of heterogeneous environmental regulations on water
pollution control: Quasi-natural experimental evidence from China. Science of The
Total Environment, 751, p.141550.
Mahmoudian, F. and et.al., 2021. Inter-and intra-organizational stakeholder arrangements in
carbon management accounting. The British Accounting Review, 53(1), p.100933.
Szarek-Iwaniuk, P., 2021. Measurement of spatial order as an indicator of sustainable
development of functional urban areas in regional capitals. Acta Scientiarum
Polonorum Administratio Locorum, 20(2).
Kucherova, H. and et.al., 2021. Smart Specialization of Innovative Development of
Functional Territories: Strategic Experience and Potential of Ukraine. In SHS Web
of Conferences (Vol. 100). EDP Sciences.
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