Functional Areas of Business and Required Skills for Employees

This report discusses the various functional areas of business, including human resources, sales, marketing, information technology, production, customer service, research and development, and legal functions. It also outlines the types of skills and competencies required by employees to effectively perform in these functional areas.

FUNCTIONAL AREAS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................3
TASK.........................................................................................................................................3
Functional areas of business...................................................................................................3
Types of skills needed by employees to work effectively in functional areas.......................6
CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
The functional areas of business management involve- strategy, marketing, finance,
human resource, technology, operations and equipment’s. This report will discuss different
functional areas of a business. The report will outline various skills and competencies which
are required to effectively perform in these functional areas.
TASK
Functional areas of business
Functional areas are team of employees who have similar skills and expertise
(Functional areas of business, 2021). In an organization or economic system where goods
and services are exchanged, there are various functional areas which are performed. The
processes which are performed by functional areas are known as business units. The function
performed within an organization can be majorly classified under operations, finance,
marketing/sales and R&D.
The different types of functional areas in a business are discussed below:
Human resource- The human resource department performs the functions of
recruiting new employees and meeting the vacant job position with specialized and
competent personnel. The functions performed by human resource department involves
recruitment and selection. The human resource department focuses on analyzing the
performance of their employees through which they can offer them required training and
development that can be helpful in shaping their skills and competencies to perform the
Management
Operations
Production
Supply chain
Finance
Accounting
Procurement
HR
Markeitng/ Sales
Markeitng
Sales
Customer Service
R&D
Development
IT

assigned job roles and responsibilities (Ackah, M., 2019). The functions of human resource
department starts from onboarding of employees and ends until resignation or termination of
employees within an organization. All the management work and employee related functions
are performed by human resource department.
Sales- The function performed by sales department are planning, implementing and
managing sales programs. The sales department is responsible for making laws of goods and
services offered by the organization through which business can generate revenues and make
profits. The four main functions which are performed within sales department is- setting
targets, manage sales process, improve efficiency and determine excellence through
motivating employees and to conduct low-level sales in a correct and appropriate manner
(Han, C and et.al., 2019). The functions of sales management monitors how sales team is
performing, making plans and setting targets.
Marketing- The functions performed by marketing departments is to promote goods
and services offered by the business through which they can attract customer attention which
can be beneficial for success and profitability of business operating within the industry. The
marketing department creates pricing strategy which will support business in capturing larger
market share and support business in maintaining their competitive position within the
industry. In simpler words, the functions performed by marketing department is to advertise
and promote the goods and services which are offered by an organization through which they
can increase customer engagement within the business.
Information Technology- IT department is the department which monitors and
maintains information technology systems and services. The IT department is responsible for
maintenance and support of all computer and network hardware. This department creates the
code and works with other departments to test the functionality. The IT department is
responsible for architecture, hardware, software and networking if computers within the
company. The three major functions performed by IT department are- governance,
infrastructure and functionality (Huang, H and et.al., 2018). The governance functions which
focus in implementing operational parameters for working units and manages the
conventional IT security and data assurance. The other function of IT department focuses in
infrastructure which manages hardware components.
Production- The function performed by the production department refers to
manufacturing of goods and services. The functions performed by this department focuses on

ensuring that goods are manufactured on time and of appropriate quality. From purchasing
the raw material which is required to other functions such as cost, quality, delivery and
quantity are all managed by production/ manufacturing department. The professionals
working in the production/manufacturing department regularly controls and monitors the
whole process through which they can ensure that all functions are systematically performed
and will be helpful in meeting the organizational objectives. The production department
prepares goods to dispatch through which they can deliver their products in timely manner
and meet customer demands (Huberfeld, G and et.al., 2017). From ordering stocks, storing,
assembling finished goods, check the quality, scheduling routine machinery to carrying out
repairs are the function which are performed by production department.
Customer service- The customer service department focuses on offering pre and post
service to customers through which they can meet customer demands. The primary functions
of customers service department is to engage and interact with customers through which they
can understand and meet customer demands. This department performs various activities
which involves- answering to customer queries, processing orders, addressing customer
concerns and acts as service representatives who acts as first line of contact with public. The
significant focus on creating, maintaining and retaining relationship of business with
customers.
Research and development function- The research and development department
functions such as providing knowledge and ideas to organization which will be helpful in
maintaining the competitive position in the industry. The primary role of research and
development department is to keep the business- competitive by gathering information and
providing insights about the market that can be helpful in developing new service products or
improve existing products and services accordingly (Kaczmarek, T. and Kociuba, D., 2017).
The research and development department conducts study and continuously monitor the
business environment that can be helpful for business future growth. The functions performed
by research and development department is responsible for bringing innovation in designs of
products and the style facilitates communication and synergy through which innovative ideas
can be driven in the organization.
Legal functions- Legal department in an organization is liable for offering legal
services and advises to the organization department and its employees. The function of legal
department is to represent the organization in official manner. Some of the functions

performed by legal department in business development are contract management, litigation,
employment law customer claims, real estate transactions and many others.
Types of skills needed by employees to work effectively in functional areas
Some of the skills which helps an individual to effectively perform all functions in an
organization are mentioned below:
 Active listening- Active listening is a primary skill which helps employees to
understand the requirements of their organization and meeting their performance
standards. The active learning skills are essential to understand the assigned job roles
and responsibilities, n order to meet objectives and standards it is helpful in
understanding customer opinions and supports fulfilling customer demand.
 Open to criticism- By being open to criticism this is one of the keys for continuous
development that can be helpful in shaping the personality knowledge and career
growth. By being open to criticism and feedbacks from colleagues, teammates and
management this helps in accepting and listening to it as inputs and concerns of others
and getting suggestions through which development can be made and deviations can
be identified (Liu, Z and et.al., 2019). Such skills are helpful in getting new
perspective and supports in attracting opportunities for improvement.
 Communication- Communication is one of the major scales which is required in
order to circulate and share the valuable information and knowledge through which a
business can achieve their organizational objectives in a timely manner and gain
competitive advantage from there two-way effective communication. Communication
is the key to bring clarity and make progress towards the achievement of
organizational objectives.
 Organization- In any work, organization skills are essentials as this help in keeping
thing in an organized manner which can be helpful in completing all task easily and
achieve all organizational objectives on time and effectively (Seigler, D. J., 2017).
Organizational skills are helpful in managing all work and supports in maintaining the
focus and concentration through which progress can be made and various tasks can be
easily performed which can save time and energy. The organization skills are helpful
in boosting productivity, prioritizing task.

 Flexibility- The flexibility skills are essentials to deal with unexpected problems and
assigned activities effectively. Through flexibility in workplace, such skills help
employees to quickly adapt to new circumstances and situations through which they
can perform the effectively and meet all performance standards that can enhance
organizational productivity and efficiency.
 Commitment and compassion- These two CC's are as essential in any profession as
the letter C in the alphabets. Any job can be performed once the employee go through
the training learn the skills required for the certain job and has the required resources
with the provided knowledge to work on, for the growth of the individual with the
organization growth it is very important that the person is sincerely committed to his
job role and compassionate about his work, only then the efficiency of the employee
increases which eventually leads to the growth of the organization too.
 Attention to details/ observant- The observant skills are helpful in gathering
valuable insight and knowledge through which an employee can effectively perform
and meet organizational objectives (Wang, J and et.al., 2021). The observation skills
are helpful in understanding key information that can support in bringing important
change through which business can make progress towards the achievement of its
objectives and success.
CONCLUSION
From the detailed study of above-mentioned information, it can be concluded that
there are various functions which are performed within an organization and these functions
collectively contribute in making business successful. In order to perform business functions
effectively, an individual must have required skills and competencies through which they can
meet the performance standards of business and meet organizational objectives.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Ackah, M., 2019. Soil elemental concentrations, geoaccumulation index, non-carcinogenic
and carcinogenic risks in functional areas of an informal e-waste recycling area in
Accra, Ghana. Chemosphere, 235, pp.908-917.
Han, C and et.al., 2019. Pollution profiles of volatile organic compounds from different urban
functional areas in Guangzhou China based on GC/MS and PTR-TOF-MS: atmospheric
environmental implications. Atmospheric Environment, 214, p.116843.
Huang, H and et.al., 2018. In vitro bioaccessibility and health risk assessment of heavy
metals in atmospheric particulate matters from three different functional areas of
Shanghai, China. Science of The Total Environment, 610, pp.546-554.
Huberfeld, G and et.al., 2017. Preoperative and intraoperative neurophysiological
investigations for surgical resections in functional areas. Neurochirurgie, 63(3), pp.142-
149.
Kaczmarek, T. and Kociuba, D., 2017. Models of governance in the urban functional areas:
Policy lessons from the implementation of integrated territorial investments (ITIs) in
Poland.
Liu, Z and et.al., 2019. Development of land use regression model and health risk assessment
for NO2 in different functional areas: A case study of Xi'an, China. Atmospheric
Environment, 213, pp.515-525.
Seigler, D. J., 2017. Social media responsiveness in the public sector: A study of social media
adoption in three functional areas of local government. International Journal of
Organization Theory & Behavior.
Wang, J and et.al., 2021. Pollution characteristics, sources and health risk of metals in urban
dust from different functional areas in Nanjing, China. Environmental Research, 201,
p.111607.
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