Functional Areas in Business Organisations and Required Employee Skills

This report discusses the different functional areas in business organisations such as marketing, HR, finance, manufacturing, and customer service. It also describes the skills required by employees to work effectively in these areas. The report is based on the case of IOM Electronic Ltd, a company owned by a 21-year-old with 200 employees in Manchester and Liverpool.

Functional Areas

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................3
Describe the various functional areas in business organisations................................................3
Describe the types of skills needed by employees to be able to work effectively in these
functional areas...........................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8

Introduction
Every organisation have different departments and functional areas within their
organisation. Functional area is the term used for those teams where all team members are
having same kind of skills and expertise (Hong and Yao, 2019). For example, HR department of
a company will have all employees having appropriate knowledge of HR works. There are
various kinds of functional areas within an organisation such as marketing department, finance
department, HR department and many others. The following report is related to IOM Electronic
Ltd which is owned by a 21 year old boy John. He is having no knowledge to manage a company
well and the company which he decided to manage is having almost 200 employees in
Manchester and Liverpool. The following report covers description of various functional areas
in business organisations and type of skills needed by employees to be able to work effectively in
these functional areas.
Main Body
Describe the various functional areas in business organisations
There are different kinds of functional areas within an organisation and few of the functional
areas in IOM Electronic Ltd are mentioned below-
Marketing department- This department is responsible to analyse marketing conditions
and analyse the needs and wants of customers as well as their preferences related to product
offered by company. They plays a very important role in developing good marketing image for
the company be collecting data and convey it to senior authority for making effective decisions
(Niedźwiecka-Filipiak and et. al., 2019). This department helps to influence customers to buy
their products and services by conveying them messages related to benefits of using their
merchandise. Secondly, the information collected by this department is also used in promotional
activities of the product. In context of IOM Electronic Ltd., their marketing department will help
them to analyse what their customers prefer about the company in market related to their
Electrical devices. This will further help to make changes in their Electrical products and
services in such a manner where their customers will satisfy more.
HR department- This department is responsible for handling internal issues of company
and maintaining organisational culture well. They are mainly responsible to make policies and
rules and regulations regarding how employees have to behave within the company and what all

benefits they can get while working within the company. HR department of a company is also
responsible for measuring employee's performance fairly and focus to train those employees
whose performance is not good. In context of IOM Electronic Ltd., their HR department is will
work to help company for managing their 200 employees well by providing them all those
resources which help them to conduct their task easily. This department will also help IOM
Electronic Ltd. in talent management of the company.
Finance department- This functional area is also one of the most important are
functional area within IOM Electronic Ltd. Here, this department is responsible for making
budgets for whole organisation and analyse how much investment in which department will help
the organisation to grow well. In context of IOM Electronic Ltd, their finance department will
help them to manage their investment activities and manage their financial documents so that at
the end of year the superior authorities of companies will make decisions regarding the incomes
and expenditure. This department of IOM Electronic Ltd will help the company to minimize
their investment on unproductive activities and invest more upon productive activities for future
growth of the company.
Manufacturing department- This department is responsible for manufacturing goods
and services for the company (Podawca, Karsznia and Zawrzykraj, 2019). In context of IOM
Electronic Ltd., their manufacturing department is responsible to manufacture those Electrical
products which is having higher demand in the market and which further help to satisfy their
customers. The main aim will be to produce quality products in lower cost as much as possible.
The employees in this department have to work with tools and machines so they must make sure
that they will be protected from any kind of injury and must get effective training to mitigate
uncertainties.
Customer service department- This is also one of the most essential function area of an
organisation. Here, customers can ask their quarries and in case they have any complaint related
to quality of the product then they can contact to this department for hoping for solution of their
quarries. In context of IOM Electronic Ltd., this department will have those employees who can
respond their customers politely and heard their issues patiently.

Describe the types of skills needed by employees to be able to work effectively in these
functional areas
Different functional area required different skill of employees to conduct their task. Hence, few
of the skills in different functional area of IOM Electronic Ltd. Is mentioned below-
Skills for marketing department employees-
 Communication skill- It is essential for marketing department employees to have
effective communication skill so that they will interact more with customers at market
place and get to know their needs and wants effectively (Wu and et. al., 2020). In context
of IOM Electronic Ltd., their employees within this functional area must conduct
marketing research and communicate well with their customers to analyse their
experience for the product and services.
 Data analysis and analytic skill- It is also essential that the employees within this
department must have the knowledge about data analysis techniques and get to know that
which data they need to eliminate which data they need to consider within their reports
for the organisational benefit.
Skills for HR department employees-
 Leadership skills- It is essential for a HR employee to have appropriate leadership skills
where they know how to influence other employees to improve their performance
(Zhanlong and et. al., 2020). They are mainly responsible to solve organisational issues
mainly related to internal environment of a company. Hence, this skill can help them to
perform their job appropriately.
 Training and development skill- It is also essential for a HR employee to have
appropriate training and development skill as they are responsible to enhance the skills of
their employees and measure their performance fairly. Hence, in context of IOM
Electronic Ltd. Employees of HR department must focus on this skill for their
organisational benefit.
Skills for Finance department employees-
 Accounting skill- This skill help a individual to track, record and manage financial data
and transactions of an organisation. The financial employees of IOM Electronic Ltd.
Must have this skill which further help them to prepare financial statements of the
company such as company's balance sheet, profit and loss account and many others.

 Analytical thinking skill- This skill refers to looking at the situation and understanding
it well to make appropriate decisions for organisational benefit (Impieri and et. al., 2019).
It is essential for IOM Electrical Ltd to hire those employees in their finance department
who are having appropriate analytical thinking skill so that they can understand the
situation well and make budgets for the company to achieve their task.
Skills for Manufacturing department employees-
 Critical thinking skill- It is essential for every employee of this department to have
critical thinking skill which allow employees to think in a rational and organised manner
to understand the connections between ideas and facts. This skill can help them to
produce their goods attractive and with full of quality to gain more customers.
 Team working skill- This is another important skill which must be presented in
manufacturing department employees. In context of IOM Electrical Ltd they must have
team working skill because they manufacture their electrical items within a group and
understanding the conversation well and coordinating with each other in a appropriate
manner will help them to manufacture quality goods.
Skills for Customer Service department employees-
 Communication skill- It is essential for customer service department employees of IOM
Electrical Ltd to have effective communication skill because they have to interact with
customers directly and solve their quarries. Hence, they must communicate in a polite
manner and listen their doubts and complaints patiently. Effective communication skill
will help these employees to gain high loyalty of customers toward their company.
 Problem solving skill- It is also essential for customer service department to have
effective problem solving skill so that they can understand the issues of their customers
well and make those decisions which help them to mitigate the problem (Huang and et.
al., 2018). In context of IOM Electrical Ltd, they must have problem solving skill to
solve the issues of their customers well and gain their high satisfaction toward the
products and brand.

Conclusion
From the above information it is concluded that various kinds of functional departments
are essential for company to reach their goal effectively. These departments are marketing
department, HR department, Finance department and many others. Marketing department is
responsible to collect Marketing data and analyse customer preference toward the products and
services. HR department is responsible to manage their internal affairs well and manage their
employees and resources appropriately. Employees in different departments require different
kinds of skills such as HR department employees need training and development skill, leadership
skill and many others. Whereas, Finance department employees require analytical and
accounting skills.

References
Books and journals
Hong, Y. and Yao, Y., 2019. Hierarchical community detection and functional area identification
with OSM roads and complex graph theory. International Journal of Geographical
Information Science, 33(8), pp.1569-1587.
Huang, Y. and et. al., 2018. Simulating urban expansion and its impact on functional
connectivity in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area. Science of the total environment, 643,
pp.1553-1561.
Impieri, D. and et. al., 2019. Receptor density pattern confirms and enhances the anatomic-
functional features of the macaque superior parietal lobule areas. Brain Structure and
Function, 224(8), pp.2733-2756.
Niedźwiecka-Filipiak, I. and et. al., 2019. The method of planning green infrastructure system
with the use of landscape-functional units (method LaFU) and its implementation in the
Wrocław Functional Area (Poland). Sustainability, 11(2), p.394.
Podawca, K., Karsznia, K. and Zawrzykraj, A.P., 2019. The assessment of the suburbanisation
degree of Warsaw Functional Area using changes of the land development
structure. Miscellanea Geographica, 23(4), pp.215-224.
Wu, J. and et. al., 2020. A method to evaluate building energy consumption based on energy use
index of different functional sectors. Sustainable Cities and Society, 53, p.101893.
Zhanlong, C.H.E.N. and et. al., 2020. Identification of the urban functional regions considering
the potential context of interest points. Acta Geodaetica et Cartographica Sinica, 49(7),
p.907.