Functional Areas of Business and Required Skills for Employees

This report discusses the various functional areas of a business, including marketing, human resources, sales, customer service, finance, and research and development. It also describes the skills needed by employees to work effectively in these areas, such as customer knowledge, communication skills, empathy, analytical skills, critical thinking, active listening, and presentation skills.

World of Work

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
What is a business?.....................................................................................................................1
What is Functional areas of business .........................................................................................1
What are the key functional areas of a business? .......................................................................1
Description of the various functional areas in business organizations.......................................1
Description of the types of skills needed by employees to be able to work effectively in these
functional areas...........................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Business is defined as the procedure which is conducted by companies in order to
manufacture products through understanding needs of customers and market. There are various
departments in a company that holds distinctive responsibilities according to skills or abilities of
employees (Amankwah-Amoah, Khan and Wood, 2021). The following report discuss about a
local company named IOM Electronics Ltd established by John with a lottery won by him of
around £10 million. The company is popular firm and consist of almost 200 employees along
with operating business in Liverpool and Manchester. The report discuss about different
functional areas of this firm and what skills are required by employees working in those
divisions.
MAIN BODY
What is a business?
Business is described as a company or a firm entity which is engaged in professional,
commercial and industrial activities. The main purpose of operating a business is to manufacturer
products or services and sell them to potential customers who are eager to buy them. Business is
an activity which helps an individual in making money through earning profits by producing and
selling goods and services.
What is Functional areas of business
Functional areas in a business are defined as group of employees who pauses similar
experience and skills. The main purpose a functional area is to make sure that all the activities
which are essential for company are being conducted in very effective and efficient manner
(Krishnamurthy, 2020). The reason for separating business operations into different functional
departments is to make sure that every person possessing similar expertise Help in productivity
and growth of a company.
What are the key functional areas of a business?
The key functional areas of a business includes marketing, human resource, sales,
customer services, finance, research and development.
Description of the various functional areas in business organizations
Marketing
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Marketing department conduct all the activities which help an organization in identifying
needs and earns of customers that could be assist in designing products or services. The main
function of marketing department is to promote products and services, identify how to deliver
them and develop pricing strategy which could capture large customer base along with providing
organization competitive advantage in the market.
Human Resource Management
Human resource department is primary responsible for supervising performance of
employees. The main purpose of HR department is too plan, organise, control and lead all the
people present in an organization (Hilkevics and Semakina, 2019). This department is
responsible for recruiting, training, Performance management, function evaluation and many
more activities. The main task of this department is to maximise performance of employees so
that they could put efforts in productivity of a company.
Customer Service
Customer service department is responsible for solving all the queries and questions of
customers. The main purpose of this department is to address issues of consumers and resolve
them in an efficient and timely manner. This department could provide support to customers on
various channels such as social media, email, phone and others which could ensure customers
that there are queries are being concerned and dealt with immediately.
Finance
Finance department of a company is responsible for planning, managing and obtaining
funds. The main purpose of this department is to plan for both long term and short-term financial
capital requirements and evaluate the impact of borrowing on performance of a business. The
accountability of this department is to answer questions about how funds should be raised,
implication of financing decisions on business activities and many more. This department is
responsible for making financial statement which could help both inside and outside entities of
an organization.
Research and Development
Research and development department of a company is considered as lifeblood of
manufacturing business (Seifzadeh and Rowe, 2019). This department is consisting of scientist,
Subject matter expertise, leaders an industry analyst who could provide knowledge along with
ideas to keep company ahead in the market. The main purpose of this department is to analyse
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market gap, market needs and other factors which could assist company in manufacturing
products or services accordingly.
Sales
Sales department of a company is consisting of business procedures and activities that
could assist it in operating efficiently, effectively and productively. This department is
considered as a direct link between products or services of an organization and its customer.
Domain accountability of this department is to build relationships with customers through
identifying their needs and ensure that those requirements are being fulfilled.
Description of the types of skills needed by employees to be able to work effectively in these
functional areas
Skills needed by Marketing employees
An effective and successful marketing strategy must consist all the bases from developing
content that could represent companies motive 2 offering exceptional services to customers.
There are various marketing skills which must be required by marketing employee’s data
mentioned below
Customer knowledge
This is the most important skills required by the employee as a good marketing campaign
could not be conducted without determining needs and behaviour of customers (Al-Surmi, Cao
and Duan, 2020). This skill will assist employee in informing production department and
campaigns could be organized according to it.
Advertising skills
It is very important for an individual to process marketing skills as it helps in grabbing
attention of customers towards company. An employee must process essential advertising skills
which includes digital advertising and print media advertising.
Skills needed by Human Resource Management employees
Human resource department is considered as the backbone of accompany which helps in
creating positive and effective workplace environment for its employees. There are various skills
which are required in a person working in this department that are mentioned below
Communication skills
This is a very important skill that includes both written and verbal communication. It is
vital that a person must process the skill as it helps in understanding opinions of others along
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with communicating clear and concise message to all the employees working in company. This
skill also helps in minimising risk of conflicts and helps in developing flexible environment for
all the people.
Negotiation skills
This is another requirement which is important foreign HR manager as this helps in
salary negotiation, conflict resolution and other issues. This ability of an individual helps in
resolving many issues arising in company such as if the new employee request for higher salary
then and HR manager could negotiate that could benefit both the parties.
Skills needed by Customer Service employees
The main purpose of customer service department is to build loyalty and trust within
potential customers (Fjeldstad and Snow, 2018). There are skills which are required in an
individual working in this department that are explained below
Empathy
This is an essential skill in customer service as it helps in understanding emotions and
opinions of other people. This is skill would assist a person working in this department in
determining behaviour, emotion and demands of customers that could help in building strong
relationship with him.
Patience
This is also very crucial ability which a person must possess as it requires a great patience
to deal with customers. As impatience could harm relationship with customers.
Skills needed by Finance employees
It has been observed that professional and financial department requires good abilities
that could help in handling budget of a company in effective manner. There are certain skills
which are required to work in this department that are explained below
Analytical skills
Analytical thinking is considered as a very important skill required in financial professionals.
This ability is describe as understanding and looking at situation that could help in evaluating a
thoughtful response. Analytical thinking helps in developing quick solutions for any issues raised
in the company.
Accounting skills
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This skill is defined as the ability and technique that allows a person to record, track and manage
financial transaction happens in a company. This skill is important for performing financial
reporting financial modelling, financial analysis, data management and other finance related
tasks.
Skills needed by Research and Development employees
Research and development department is responsible for analysing and collecting data.
There are certain skills which are needed in an employee working in this department that a
describe below
Critical thinking
Critical thinking is referred as examining the data collecting the facts and evaluating
whether the information provided is logically correct or not. Through this ability a person could
seek information, evaluate alternatives and make conclusion related to end topic.
Time management
This ability of a person helps in planning and organising activities through dividing time
between them. Time management helps in conducting research according to the preferences
which is more important to achieve organizational objectives.
Skills needed by Sales employees
Sales department is mainly responsible for building a conversation part with potential
customers. They are some of the abilities which are required for an employee working in this
department
Active listening
Good listening skills helps in connecting with Customers in an effective manner. Active
listening helps in understanding opinions of consumers and determining what they actually want
(Tworek, Tworek and Rauscher, 2019). This skill is considered as important ability which helps
company in determining needs of customers.
Presentation skills
As a sales person directly deals with customer it is very important that they must
represent themselves effectively in front of them. This skill helps a sales person in engaging
customers in the conversation and make them more informative which could assist them in
understanding their behaviour.
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CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that business is defined as the process of
producing and trading of products or services that helps companies in accomplishing
organisational objectives. It has been evaluated that different functional areas within a company
are responsible for completing their various responsibilities so that business operations could be
conducted effectively. There are several skills that are required for different departments that
must be fulfilled by candidates in order to achieve desired goals efficiently.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Al-Surmi, A., Cao, G. and Duan, Y., 2020. The impact of aligning business, IT, and marketing
strategies on firm performance. Industrial marketing management, 84, pp.39-49.
Amankwah-Amoah, J., Khan, Z. and Wood, G., 2021. COVID-19 and business failures: The
paradoxes of experience, scale, and scope for theory and practice. European
Management Journal, 39(2), pp.179-184.
Fjeldstad, Ø.D. and Snow, C.C., 2018. Business models and organization design. Long range
planning, 51(1), pp.32-39.
Hilkevics, S. and Semakina, V., 2019. The classification and comparison of business ratios
analysis methods. Insights into Regional Development, 1(1), pp.47-56.
Krishnamurthy, S., 2020. The future of business education: A commentary in the shadow of the
Covid-19 pandemic. Journal of Business Research, 117, pp.1-5.
Seifzadeh, P. and Rowe, W.G., 2019. The role of corporate controls and business-level strategy
in business unit performance. Journal of Strategy and Management.
Tworek, K., Tworek and Rauscher, 2019. Aligning IT and Business. Springer International
Publishing.
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