IOM Electronics Ltd: Functional Areas and Required Employee Skills

This report provides an analysis of functional areas within a business organization, focusing on the skills and responsibilities associated with each area, using a case study of IOM Electronics Ltd, a regional electronics company. It discusses key functional areas such as finance, human resources, marketing, and production, outlining the specific skills required for employees to operate effectively in each department. For finance, accounting and financial reporting skills are highlighted; for HR, communication and advising skills are emphasized; for marketing, creativity and market research skills are crucial; and for production, lean manufacturing/six sigma and machining skills are essential. The report concludes that each functional area plays a vital role in achieving business objectives, with interconnected departments and the need for motivated employees possessing specific skill sets to ensure efficiency and success. Desklib provides this and other solved assignments for students.

Functional Areas

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Different functional areas in business organisation and skills sets required by employees to
work effectively and efficiently in functional areas. ..................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
References:.......................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
The functional areas are organized by the companies for several reasons as they are group
of employees having similar skill sets and knowledge. The functional areas can be defined as
employee team which have expertise and similar skills. The staff with identical ability are
grouped together for more efficiency in projects. The manager in organising functional areas is
also allowed to review the members working of the functions. In organisation each functional
areas makes specific and valuable contributions as a whole. In the business different functions
are performed and controlled by different parts of business. In business functional areas vary in
accordance to nature of market and business size (Aithal and Aithal, 2019). The report is based
on case study on John having little experience in work. He won the lottery of £10 million and
decided to buy a local company ( IOM Electronics Ltd). The company is well-known regional
organisation with 200 employees based on two sites in Manchester and Liverpool. As a role of
consultant understanding is being provided on various responsibilities and requirements needed
to run business. In the report several functional areas is discussed in business organisation with
the skill sets required by employees to work efficiently and effectively in functional areas.
MAIN BODY
Different functional areas in business organisation and skills sets required by employees to
work effectively and efficiently in functional areas.
In the small business number of tasks and functions are done regularly such as bills to be
paid, stock purchase and to serve customers etc. These Jobs can be done by one or two people.
The functional arses in the organisation group tasks and skills for managing business aspects that
have their own protocol and logic. The main aim of functional areas is to carry important
business activities efficiently which helps in attaining goals & objectives (Bird, 2019). The
specific areas are responsible for supporting the specific types of objectives such as sales mad
marketing is related to attain targets linked to development of new market or increasing sales.
The HR is involved in staff training arrangements and supports professional developments. In the
company there are several functional areas.
 Finance- It is a most important function in the organisation as the business requires
regular flow of income for paying bills. It also includes planing for managing and
obtaining company funds. The manager plans both for short and long term financial
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capital needs by analysing impact of borrowing on business. The staff records all income
and expenditures for knowing the profit and loss made by the organisation & how much
revenue they have currently. There are different types of financial experts involved such
as management accountant, credit controller, financial accountant (Flanagan, DJ and
et.al., 2017). To keep financial records staff supports to accountant regarding payments or
purchasing. This departments also prepares payroll and pay staff salaries. This
department also handles reporting and financial statements which can be used for
budgeting, forecasting and other decision-making.
The finance Skills are-
◦ Accounting skills- It defines to techniques and abilities that helps employees in
tracking, recording and managing financial transactions efficiently and effectively.
This skill helps in performing financial analysis, financial reporting, data
management and other related tasks. The understanding of this skill helps in acquiring
better job as a finance professional.
◦ Financial reporting skill- It is a procedure of revealing financial position and
pertaining information to stakeholders and upper management (Fukui, 2020). This
skills is important for employees helping in preparing of financial statements, balance
sheets, income statements by which company financial health can be shown to the
concerned party. It focuses on organising records to have an idea of business position.
 Human Resource- These are employees of business which is responsible for the
recruitment by ensuring all the vacancy are filled by right person for job. In recruiting the
right person they HR ensures people have right skills, experience and qualifications on
the basis of company needs. The HR is also in- charge of several areas like compensation
& benefits, training & learning, labour & employee relation, and organisational
development. The HR is considered as an critical asset of company (Hall, and
Braithwaite, 2017). The HR department has various roles and responsibilities to perform
such as advertising job vacancies, monitoring terms & conditions of employment,
carrying company welfare policies & advising employees, managers on legal rights and
responsibilities of company.
The HR Skills are-
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◦ Communication skills- It is essential skill as HR professional is link among business
and employees which requires communication with different stakeholders and at
different level of authority for influencing. It is an ability of connecting all kinds of
people in well manner by leaving an positive and professional impression.
◦ Advising skills- It is important skill for HR professional which helps in solving
issues of an another employee. The problem of another person must be analysed and
understand to provide guidance accordingly (Kolb, M and et.al., 2017). The advising
skill can be improved by focusing on listening which helps in fingering out issues and
gives accurate & concise advices. It is a sift skill valued by many recruiters.
 Marketing- It is related to identifying and meeting customers needs. The business
requires effective marketing strategy for gaining customers and growth. The marketing
helps in promotion of the product as well as mission and vision of company. The
marketing can be more understood by marketing mix involving 4Ps such as product,
price, place and promotion. It helps in carrying promotional activities which tells
customers what is available through advertising, sales promotions and publicity
campaigns (Mustafa, 2017). It is also responsible for overseeing internet presence in
technology driven environment such as company websites, blogs, social media
campaigns etc. It is responsible for designing and brand management, content creation for
website, producing internet marketing communication for employees.
The Marketing Skills are-
◦ Creativity skill- The marketer requires thinking of new and exciting ideas to appeal
clients and to target demographic. The creativity skill helps marketer in developing
new products concepts, brainstorming themes for advertisements, evaluation of
product packaging solutions, devising rewards and loyalty programs. The creativity
skill helps in sending messages by conveying the brand values. It offers solutions to
business problems by communicating in better way with customers and clients.
◦ Market Research skill- It defines to an ability of search, evaluating, organising and
presenting information which is relevant to particular topic. The market research is a
procedure of identifying the viability of new service or product by research conducted
directly with potential customers. This skill helps marketer in discovering target
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market and gets feedback and opinion from consumers regarding the product and
service. Researches on current trends and strategies.
 Production- It refers to assembly or manufacturing of goods. The staff of production
department ensure that goods are produced on time with right quality. The purchasing
staff buys raw materials with suppliers by ensuring the terms of contract in relation to
cost, quantity and quality. It helps in turning input into finished products. The department
follows some specific standards and targets for each production process (Rjaibi and
Rabai, 2018). It also monitors quality and quantity of products. The production
department involves production planning, production control, utilization of machines and
staff and finally quality checking of product in organisation.
The production skills are-
◦ Lean manufacturing / six sigma- The lean manufacturing is a process of eliminating
waste from the production process and six sigma is a data-driven technology which
helps in improving the performance by reducing waste and reduces variation. This
skill are critical for maintaining high standards which is highly transferable and in
demand in other industries. The purpose of production is to make effective and
functional products faster by understanding the practice of lean manufacturing / six-
sigma. This skills improve efficiency and introduces strong managerial material for
promotion opportunities.
◦ Machining- It is a procedure such as abrading, drilling, cutting, forming, grinding,
and shaping metal or other material which is performed by other machining tools like
lathes, power saws etc. The tools can operated either by human or computers. The
machining skill is vital in production that can be used by only those person who have
proper knowledge of handling and using safely. It provides the competitive edge over
other competitors to business which helps in creating shapes, structures of new design
for product.
CONCLUSION
From above report it is being concluded that business carries several function which
groups the capabilities and processes for describing work. The managers have the significant role
in supporting the organisation performance. The functional areas are critical for realizing every
business goal. The motivation must be provided to every employees in each functional area.
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Each business function has different roles and responsibilities that is performed by every
department and each department is interrelated with other departments to carry out the business
objectives. The different functional area has different skill that must be posses by employees and
mangers for bring efficiency and targeting to objectives.
References:
Books and Journals
Aithal, P.S. and Aithal, S., 2019. New Directions in Scholarly Research–Some Fearless
Innovations & Predictions for 21st Century Research. International Journal of
Management, Technology, and Social Sciences (IJMTS). 4(1). pp.1-19.
Bird, B., 2019. Toward a theory of entrepreneurial competency. In Seminal ideas for the next
twenty-five years of advances. Emerald Publishing Limited.
Flanagan, D.J and et.al., 2017. Coopetition among nascent craft breweries: a value chain
analysis. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development.
Fukui, H., 2020. Policy-making in the Japanese foreign ministry. In The foreign policy of
modern Japan (pp. 3-36). University of California Press.
Hall, D. and Braithwaite, A., 2017. The development of thinking in supply chain and logistics
management. In Handbook of logistics and supply-chain management. Emerald Group
Publishing Limited.
Kolb, M and et.al., 2017. Implementing sustainability as the new normal: Responsible
management education–From a private business school's perspective. The International
Journal of Management Education. 15(2). pp.280-292.
Mustafa, R.K.M., 2017. Functional requirements for authority data, the conceptual model: a field
study for its application in the Arab environment. Cybrarians Journal. (46). pp.NA-NA.
Rjaibi, N. and Rabai, L.B.A., 2018, April. Functional Specification to Support Security Risk
Assessment of Large Systems. In Computer Science On-line Conference (pp. 84-89).
Springer, Cham.
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