Understanding Business Functional Areas: Roles & Skills Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the key functional areas within a business, including marketing, human resource management, customer service, finance, research and development, and sales. It details the specific roles and responsibilities of each area and highlights the essential skills employees need to perform effectively. The report emphasizes the importance of communication, problem-solving, analytical abilities, and adaptability across different departments. It concludes that a well-defined understanding of these functional areas and the cultivation of necessary skills are crucial for achieving organizational objectives, enhancing productivity, and driving profitability. Desklib provides access to this and other solved assignments to aid students in their studies.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................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 within company...........................................................1
Marketing:..............................................................................................................................1
Human Resource Management:.............................................................................................2
Customer Service:..................................................................................................................2
Finance:..................................................................................................................................2
Research and Development:...................................................................................................2
Sales:.......................................................................................................................................2
Description of the types of skills needed by employees to be able to work effectively in these
functional areas................................................................................................................................3
Skills needed by Marketing employees..................................................................................3
Skills needed by HRM employees:........................................................................................3
Skills needed by Customer Service employees......................................................................3
Skills needed by Finance employees......................................................................................3
Skills needed by Research and Development employees.......................................................4
Skills needed by Sales employees..........................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

Introduction
The decision on how to best utilise production factors for the provision of goods and
services to customers requires a number of areas to operate in various tasks in a group. As a
company's scale and size grow, so does the complexity of its product portfolio and offerings. It
also leads to the expansion of the organization's functional areas (Brinch, 2018). In order to
execute operations and achieve objectives, all functional departments in a firm contribute a
particular and valuable portion. The report will go through many functional areas as well as the
skills that staff members will need to operate effectively in these parts of the organisation.
What is a business?
An inventive and organising entity engaged in industrial, commercial, or professional
activity is characterised as a business. Furthermore, it is defined as the coordinated activities and
efforts of several people to develop and sell products and services for profit.
What are Functional areas of business
An inventive and organising entity engaged in industrial, commercial, or professional
activity is characterised as a business. Furthermore, it is defined as the coordinated activities and
efforts of several people to develop and sell products and services for profit.
What are the key functional areas of a business?
Within the constraints of an economy, every organisation function is incorporated in the
grouping of employees based on firm functions (Holbeche, 2018). Finance, marketing, human
resources, operations, and sales are said to be the most crucial functional areas of an
organisation. All of these functions are crucial in shaping the corporate entity's growth and
success.
Description of the various functional areas within company
Marketing:
It is regarded as one of the most important functional areas concerned with the promotion
and sale of an organization's products and services. Furthermore, such a functional sector assists
a company in developing effective tactics that have a favourable impact on the company's client
base and brand image. It also includes actions like advertising, customer connection
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development, direct selling, and many others that help a company increase earnings and improve
market performance.
Human Resource Management:
HRM, as a functional area, is responsible for finding the right person for the job opening in
a timely manner. It also handles things like training and development, employee relations,
recruiting and selection, salary and benefits, and so forth (SEKHRI, 2020). The human resource
staff is focused on implementing numerous methods that aid in market sustainability. All of these
functions contribute to the creation of a positive working environment and the attainment of
goals.
Customer Service:
One of the most important functional areas that must be addressed in order to achieve
greater success and growth in the marketplace. The primary goal of a corporate entity is to
deliver high-quality, on-time service to customers, which aids in the development of a company's
brand image and market performance (Grönroos, 2017). In addition, the customer care staff
responds quickly to consumer inquiries, which helps to build customer loyalty to the business.
Finance:
A company's finance department is responsible for resolving money-related issues as well
as ensuring the availability of finances to carry out activities. It keeps track and records all
financial activities, which is necessary in order to determine the profits and revenue % made by
the company over the course of a year (Vendrell-Herrero and et. al., 2018). It has been concluded
that every finance manager in an organisation must focus on improving their grasp of core
functional areas in order to generate budgets that are appropriate.
Research and Development:
R&D is a functional area that encompasses actions that are regarded with the goal of
bringing some innovation and presenting new products and services that meet customer and
market trends. The Research and Development functional area performs a variety of duties and is
interconnected with departments such as marketing, sales, and production.
Sales:
This functional area is linked to the company's overall sales volume as well as money earned
in the long run. The main goal is to sell whatever products the company produces to clients. As a
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result, sales are recognised as the functional area of an organisation that increases profitability
and revenue (Wang and et. al., 2019). When a product is developed, the importance of this
functional area is increased, and this trend continues until the entire volume of production is
converted into sales.
Description of the types of skills needed by employees to be able to work
effectively in these functional areas
Skills needed by Marketing employees
The marketing department's primary responsibility is to promote and develop a
company's brand image in the marketplace. It is critical for marketing employees to have strong
communication and interaction skills in order to build great client relationships and retain them
for extended periods of time (Bals, Laine and Mugurusi, 2018). There are many additional
qualities that an employee must possess, including as creativity, problem-solving, persuading
abilities, teamwork, and so on. It has been determined that competent problem-solving aids in
effectively dealing with client enquiries and difficulties, resulting in an increase in an
organization's performance and profitability.
Skills needed by HRM employees:
Human resource is one of an organization's most valuable assets since it aids in the proper
and timely implementation of activities, which leads to the achievement of stated goals.
Employees in the HR department must possess a diverse set of abilities in order to build effective
and strong relationships with higher authorities and other companies in order to maximise
benefits for both sides. Effective communication, training and development, decision-making
skills, conflict resolution, and coordination are some of these skills. All of these actions will aid
in the effective attainment of increased growth and development.
Skills needed by Customer Service employees
Customer service representatives are primarily concerned with resolving customer issues
within a reasonable time frame, since this aids in building a favourable attitude among customers
and gaining their loyalty (DePaula, Dincelli and Harrison, 2018). Problem-solving skills, active
listening, flexibility, adaptability, friendliness, open-mindedness, responsiveness, and other
qualities are required of customer service personnel. It is easier to retain a solid customer base
and meet targets on time and successfully if you have a great mastery of these talents.
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Skills needed by Finance employees
It has been determined that the workings of the finance department are highly difficult and
necessitate a higher level of concentration in order to keep accurate records. An employee's
analytical ability, accounting qualification, commercial acumen, interpersonal skills, and other
abilities are required to conduct all of the duties of the finance department (Bommaraju and et.
al., 2019). Furthermore, a good command of finance work and understanding is necessary
because it helps staff members contribute to success and growth.
Skills needed by Research and Development employees
Employees in R&D are required to have good research abilities in order to do research on
industry trends, rivals, and other factors. These skills also aid in getting insight into client
requirements and market demand. Reasoning skills, active listening skills, analytical thinking,
and many more talents and expertise are required of research and development employees.
Skills needed by Sales employees
Each organization's sales workers must be well-versed in skills such as active listening,
persuasion, collaboration, adaptability, and objection handling, among others (Brinch, 2018). All
of these abilities will aid salespeople in meeting their targets on time. Furthermore, it aids in the
suitable attainment of increased profitability and revenue levels.
CONCLUSION
As a result of the above discussion, it has been determined that various organisational
functional areas perform diverse duties and responsibilities in order to achieve objectives and
meet targets. Furthermore, it has been discovered that people in these functional areas have a
specific level of talent, and that executing all of these actions contributes to the company's
productivity and profitability. Furthermore, it is critical for higher authorities to ensure that a
favourable working culture is supplied to all employees in the organisation, since this aids in the
creation of a positive working culture as well as the achievement of goals.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bals, L., Laine, J. and Mugurusi, G., 2018. Evolving Purchasing and Supply Organizations: A
contingency model for structural alternatives. Journal of Purchasing and Supply
Management, 24(1), pp.41-58.
Bommaraju, R and et. al., 2019. Does a customer on the board of directors affect business-to-
business firm performance?. Journal of Marketing, 83(1), pp.8-23.
Brinch, M., 2018. Understanding the value of big data in supply chain management and its
business processes: Towards a conceptual framework. International Journal of
Operations & Production Management.
DePaula, N., Dincelli, E. and Harrison, T.M., 2018. Toward a typology of government social
media communication: Democratic goals, symbolic acts and self-
presentation. Government Information Quarterly, 35(1), pp.98-108.
Grönroos, C., 2017. On value and value creation in service: a management perspective. Journal
of creating value, 3(2), pp.125-141.
Holbeche, L., 2018. The agile organization: How to build an engaged, innovative and resilient
business. Kogan Page Publishers.
SEKHRI, O., 2020. The Relation between ESP and GE and their Effect on Designing the
Courses among Teachers of English in Departments of Constantine 1
University. International Arab Journal of English for Specific Purposes, 3(1), pp.53-66.
Vendrell-Herrero, F and et. al., 2018. Uncovering the role of cross-border strategic alliances and
expertise decision centralization in enhancing product-service innovation in
MMNEs. International Business Review, 27(4), pp.814-825.
Wang, S and et. al., 2019. Harnessing business analytics value through organizational absorptive
capacity. Information & Management, 56(7), p.103152.
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