Introduction to Business: Role of HR, Marketing and Finance functions

This document provides an introduction to business and discusses the role of HR, Marketing, and Finance functions in an organization. It explains how these functions work together to earn better profits. The document also explores collaborative working practices and the role of financial management and reporting within the organization.

Introduction to
business

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
Role of HR, Marketing and Finance functions...........................................................................1
An understanding about collaborative working practices...........................................................3
Role of financial management and reporting within the organization........................................4
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
A Business can be defined as an organisation where a group of individual work together
along with utilization of other resources with the aim of making and selling a product or service
to earn maximum amount of profit (Rao and Syed, 2019). The organisation selected for this
assignment is TESCO which is a well known British multinational retailer having its headquarter
in England, UK. In this report a description about the role of HR, Marketing and finance
functions within organisations is provided together with how they work in collaboration to earn
profit. Beside this, an understanding about collaborative working practices are also involved in
this assignment along with role of financial management and reporting within the organisation.
Role of HR, Marketing and Finance functions
A crucial role is played by HR, marketing and finance function in an organisation to lead
its success and earn better profit (Finn and et. al, 2018). A description about the role of HR,
Finance and marketing functions is provided below describing how these functions are helpful
for organisations in earning better profits:
Role of HR functions- Recruitment, selection and development of workforce and
employees of an organisation is the responsibility of the HR functions. Human resource of any
organisation is its biggest strength that lead to efficiency and effective performance of an
organisation and makes it able to earn better profit. HR function plays the most vital role in
success of an organisation through optimizing workforce and facilitates reduction in employees
turnover and improve employees skills (Cascio and Graham, 2016). Therefore, HR function lead
to a boost in productivity through effective employee engagement initiatives and also enhance
skills and efficiency of employees through on-boarding training and development programmes.
For instance, within the TESCO organisation HR function is responsible for recruiting, selecting
and placing right worker at right job and also manage and handle the employees relation, payroll
benefits and training therefore, lead to enhancement in productivity and efficiency of operations
of TESCO thus, yield better profit and success.
Role of Finance function- Planning, organising, directing, managing and controlling
flow of funds and other financial activities is the responsibility of finance function within the
organisations (Ittner and OyOn, 2019). A crucial role of procurement and effective utilization of
funds is played by finance function thus, lead to achievement of objective of cost efficiency
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therefore, increasing the profit margin of organisation. With in the context of TESCO
organisation, finance functions is responsible to prepare timely budgets and other accounting
reports to have a check and monitor all the sources of income and expenses to have a control and
reduction in wasteful activities to maintain the cost efficiency in all the functions of organisation
thus, facilitates better profit margin and also improve the productivity and cost efficiency of the
organisation.
Role of Marketing function- The most important role played by marketing functions is
establishing and retaining effective and long term term relation with customers and shape the
image of products and services of organisation on which the volume of sales depends to a great
extent (Stewart and Gugel, 2016). Marketing is a complex function that includes a wide range of
operations and activities like, conducting market research, analysis and evaluation of current
market scenario and trend, product development as per the demand and preference of customers,
deciding pricing strategy on the basis of prices of competitors and finally the effective
communication, promotion and advertising of product and services to attract a larger section of
customers for product and services. Therefore, plays most important role in enhancement of
profit and sales revenue. For instance, Marketing function of TESCO is conducting timely
market research and analysis to have better understanding about taste and preference of
customers thus, facilitates delivery of most suitable product to its target customers and provide a
wider section of market share to enhance its profit and sales revenue. Beside this, marketing
function also lead to better competitive strength through creating a unique brand image and
product positioning of an organisation.
HR, Marketing and Finance functions are working together for profit
All the functions of an organisation are availing their own roles and responsibility in
success of organisation but none of the function can achieve objective of profit maximization in
isolation. A proper collaboration and connection among working of HR, Marketing and Finance
functions is essential to have maximization of profit within organisation. Marketing helps in
promoting a product and brand and the money required for effective advertising and other
promotional tool is provided by finance function(Finn and et. al, 2018). Thus, marketing and
finance functions works together to achieve efficiency and reduce waste of funds in promotion
activity through effective budgeting and cost analysis of each activity. HR department provides
timely perks and incentives to motivate employees, amount of which are also provided and
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managed by finance function. Further, marketing lead to better image of organisation that is
useful for HR department as it attract pool of more talented and skilled employees for
organisation that enhance its productivity and efficiency. Thus, working together of HR,
Financing and marketing function lead to better profit through making all functions cost
effective, facilitating better brand image and providing more skilled and talented employees to
meet the objective and goals of organisation.
An understanding about collaborative working practices
Collaborative working practices is mainly associated with working together to address
and solve a problem and deliver more effective outcomes that can not be easily achieved in
isolation or working alone. Collaborative practices are important and beneficial for an
organisation as it facilitates better inter-personnel mix to solve an issue and facilitates effective
communication among individuals which lead to increase in innovation and creativity of an
organisation (Adekola and Sergi, 2016). TESCO can build or lead to collaborative working
practices in its organisation through emphasising on following points:
Trust: Be honest is the first condition of building collaboration working practises as it
eliminates conflicts through avoiding talking behind each other's back. Feeling of trust among
employees lead to better confidence on each other works thus, enhance there working and
productivity therefore lade better results for TESCO.
Clarify Roles- To built collaborative working practises within its organisation TESCO
must frequently review roles of its employees and team members as clarified responsibilities
bring transparency in action plan which facilitates better working condition without any chaos
and confusion thus, makes employees capable to meet the expectations of firm in a better way
(Lehmann, 2016).
Communicate Openly and effectively- A collaborative working practises facilitates a
ways to communicate openly and more effectively to clear up the misunderstanding and having a
mutual perspective to achieve the goals and objective of an organisation.
Appreciate diversity of Ideas- To have an better and effective collaborative working
practises it become essential to appreciate and provide adequate amount of flexibility to evaluate
and have new ideas. This helps TESCO organisation through facilitating better creation of
innovation and creativity which yield better brand image and competitive strength in business
environment.
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Thus, it can be understand from the above discussion that efforts should be made by
TESCO or any other organisation to have a collaborative working practises as it facilitates
pooling of talent and enhance the strengths of organisation through mutual benefits and speed up
solutions. Beside this, it also lead to a positive and more friendly working environment at an
organisation that increase efficiency of workforces and enhance employees retention and job
satisfaction level.
Role of financial management and reporting within the organization
Financial management and reporting is one of the most important aspects of an
organisation as it facilitates strategic planing and controlling over the monetary aspects if an
organisation which is necessary to maintain an enough and uninterrupted supply of funds
together with optimum and efficient utilization to ensure long term viability and success of
organisation (Di Benedetto and Kim, 2016). Financial management includes preparation of
various budgets, documents and reports to have a control and check over various aspects of
income and expenses for effective management of funds (The Role of Financial Management in
an Organization, 2019). Following are the crucial role played by Financial management and
timely reporting in the TESCO organisation:
Financial decisions and controls- Financial management and reporting facilitates
effective planning of financial activities in TESCO and also ensure maintenance of all relevant
records and budget thus, lead to effective decisions and control on the basis of this data. Use of
various techniques like ratio analysis, financial forecasting, profit and loss analysis are also made
to have effective decisions making as per the current financial situation of the organisation.
Effective allocation and utilisation of resources- Timely reporting and budget
formulation which is an important part of financial management ensures optimum utilisation of
resources thus, enhance profitability, sustainability and viability of TESCO organisation in long
run.
Cash flow management- Another crucial role lead by financial management and
reporting in TESCO organisation is maintaining a check on working capital requirement and
ensure supply of sufficient cash flow to meet the operational expenses and other emergency
situation that may arises during day to day working (Albort-Morant and Ribeiro-Soriano, 2016).
Disposal of surplus and risk management- Financial management also plays a vital role
in deciding utilization of profit i.e. how much surplus amount is distributed as dividend and how
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much percentage of profit is retained back into business to meet the contingent situation and also
helps in meeting future unforeseen risk and emergencies more effectively.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above report it can be summarised that HR function plays a crucial role
in attracting and retaining most talented employees together with effective training and
development programmes to enhance their skills and efficiency for better performance of
organisation. Marketing function facilitates effective communication with customers to enhance
the sales volume and Finance function lead to effective control over expenses to make an
organisation cost effective. Beside this, collaborative working practises lead to a better
atmosphere and clarity in operations that facilitates effective way for enhancing creativity and
innovation. At last, it can be concluded that financial management and reporting also plays a
crucial role in effective decision making and planning for monetary aspects.
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REFERENCES
Books and journal
Adekola, A. and Sergi, B. S., 2016. Global business management: A cross-cultural perspective.
Routledge.
Albort-Morant, G. and Ribeiro-Soriano, D., 2016. A bibliometric analysis of international impact
of business incubators. Journal of Business Research. 69(5). pp.1775-1779.
Cascio, W. F. and Graham, B. Z., 2016. New strategic role for HR: Leading the employer-
branding process. Organization Management Journal. 13(4). pp.182-192.
Di Benedetto, C. A. and Kim, K. H., 2016. Customer equity and value management of global
brands: Bridging theory and practice from financial and marketing perspectives:
Introduction to a Journal of Business Research Special Section. Journal of Business
Research. 69(9). pp.3721-3724.
Finn, A. and et. al., 2018. The Ultimate MBA Book: Get the Edge in Business; Master Strategy,
Marketing, and Finance; Enjoy a Business School Education in a Book. Hachette UK.
Ittner, C. D. and OyOn, D., 2019. Risk Ownership, ERM Practices, and the Role of the Finance
Function. Journal of Management Accounting Research.
Lehmann, C. F., 2016. Strategy and business process management: Techniques for improving
execution, adaptability, and consistency. Auerbach Publications.
Rao, K. N. and Syed, F., 2019. Building Customer-Centric organizations-An evolving role of
HR. South Asian Journal of Marketing & Management Research. 9(4). pp.35-39.
Stewart, D. W. and Gugel, C. T. eds., 2016. Accountable marketing: Linking marketing actions
to financial performance. Routledge.
Online:
The Role of Financial Management in an Organization. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://talentedge.com/articles/role-financial-management-organization/>.
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