Key Departments/Functions Within Businesses and Their Roles

This report delves into the essential departments and functions that drive business success, focusing on how each contributes to the ultimate goal of profit generation. It identifies the key dimensions of strategy, operations, marketing, and finance, and examines the six crucial functions: production, human resources, marketing, finance, information management, and research and development. The report outlines the roles of the CEO, COO, CMO, and CFO in setting and executing business strategies, emphasizing the importance of collaboration. It explores the operational aspects, including production, human resources management, and marketing strategies, highlighting the shift towards social media marketing in the digital age. Furthermore, the report discusses the significance of research and development, finance management, and information management in ensuring a company's competitiveness and efficient operation. The report concludes by emphasizing the interconnectedness of these departments and functions in achieving overall business objectives and maximizing market share.

Title: Identifying the key departments/ functions within
businesses, discuss their role in enabling the organisation to
meet its business goals.
The ultimate goal of business is generating profit. Profit is not only a clear indicator
of how well the business is doing, but it also fuels growth and development, and
maximizes the wealth of shareholders.To achieve this ultimate goal and move
onwards and upwards, a business must have stable key departmentswith their
respectivefunctions within the firm. In general, four distinct dimensions – strategy,
operations, marketing and finances – account for every decision a company makes
(Gilkey, 2011).These four key dimensionsserve six most important functions of
business: production function, human resources function, marketing function, finance
function, information management function, and research and development function.
This report will consider how these dimensions and functions compose a business.
Strategy dimension is the core of any business.It is incumbent on theChief Executive
Officer (CEO), whose typical responsibilities include creating and implementing the
company’s vision, leading the development of the company’s short- and long-term
strategies, and communicating with shareholders, government entities, and the
public on behalf of the company (CFI, no date). The CEO cannot and should not
single-handedly make important decisions. The CEO and Chief Operation
Officer(COO) jointly set up mid- and long-term plans in consultation with the Chief
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Management Officer(CMO) and Chief Finance Officer(CFO) because every
perspective is needed to make a solid plan.
When the CEO develops a vision and strategy, theoperationdepartment executes
action plans by designating tasks to the best-suitedhuman resources (HR). Led by
the COO, the operation department covers production and HRfunction.Robertson
(2022) introduces how to create an operation plan. The foremost part is identifying
the goals, followed by meticulously planning who, what, where, and when to execute
the plans anddefining the necessary resources to achieve the goals. The necessary
resources include training the staff and managing tools for new tasks or software
programs to improve work processes.Planning is followed bythe actual production
function. A production manager ensures that the quality of goods and services meet
the requirements and the delivery schedule(PreserveArticles.com, no date).
Meanwhile, the Human Resources manager determines where to allocate which
employees by means of job analysis and recruitment procedures. Job analysis is an
important step to select the right candidate for each task and it serves as foundation
of HR works.
Job analysis refers to a systematic process of identifying and collecting detailed job
information, including necessary skills, roles, responsibilities and processes of a
specific job (Darwinbox, nd). Solid job analysis willfacilitate successful manpower
planning and provide objective job performance standards and basis for job
evaluation.The task of arranging job training, promotions, transfers, compensation
and welfare also falls under the competence of a human resources manager, and
successful job analysis will serve as the basis for those duties.
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With the help of HR, the operation department may produce high quality goods or
provide high quality serves. Theitems delivered or provided, however,cannot
promote themselves.Oxford Languages defines marketing as the action or business
of promoting and selling products or services. Marketing is building a story that can
sell and it playsan increasingly important role in a company. Guttermann (2021)
notes that the number of people engaged in the marketing sectorgrew rapidly in the
United Kingdom from 148,000 in 2011 to 197,000 in 2020. Furthermore, marketing
spending grew by 10.56 percent in 2021, and 12.8 percent of UK marketer
experienced increase in their budget to win market share(Guttmann, 2022).
Different time eras have different communication and marketing strategies. In this
Internet age of the 21st century, marketing in traditional media such as television,
newspapers, radio and magazines is giving its way to social media marketing
(Saravanakumar&SuganthaLakshmi, 2021).Social media platforms such as
Facebook or Instagram can easily reach millions and billions of potential customers–
more than two billion active Facebook users and 1.4 billion active Instagram users,
according toStatista (2022). With the number of social media users rapidly soaring,
promoting products or services through social networking sites has become an
indispensablemarketing platform.Saravanakumar and SuganthaLakshmi also
suggestthat publishing blog posts, using social network to capture and communicate
with customers, and uploading products on the review sites could be effective social
media marketing strategies. In sum, the key of social media marketing is making
effective use of the vast ocean of Internet users to build a company store and
promote brand images, products and services.
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The marketing dimensionof business is often linked with the innovation function of a
business. Also called research and development (R&D), the role of an R&D
department is to keep a business competitive in this age of rivalry, by developing
new services or products or improving the existing ones’ quality (James,
2019).James also notes that successful R&D can not only improve efficiency to
reduce cost, but also provide powerful market insights. Then how does the R&D
work?It often begins its cycle with ideation and theorising, followed by research,
exploration, designing and development. R&D coversa wide spectrum of
technological advances in diverse areas, including pharmaceuticals, software,
manufacturing and engineering.
If the marketing dimension of business is building a dream, thefinances
dimensionrelates to reality and clear calculation (Gilkey, 2011).Led by the Chief
Finance Officer (CFO), finance management refers to strategic planning, organizing,
directing and controlling of finance-related transactions. Transactions on projects
and budgets can result in losses and profits, which can determine the company’s
creditworthiness, profitability and ability to generate wealth. It furthermore helps
CEOs to determine how well the business is being operated internally and build
more effective business plans (London School of Business & Finance).
Last but not least, information management function in business cannot be
underestimated.The fact that none of the four key dimensions in business are
exempt fromdigital documentation and communication highlights the importance of
the role of an information manager. Equipped with information technology and
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management skills to supervise the flow of data(Western Governors University, no
date), Information Managers continuously develop and implement information
management strategies and ensure compliance with statutory obligations. Acquired
knowledge and information are stored according to the Data Protection Act(DPA)
and organized well, so that the stored information can be used appropriatelywhen
needed. They are also required to regularly monitor information management
processes and manage retention and disposal schedules for electronic content
(GOV.UK, no date).
From operation to management and marketing, running a business is a never-ending
decision-makingprocess,coupled with a close examination on finance status and
collected data. CEOs have to consider information data in relation to overall
business strategy and performance, CMOs take responsibilities in effectively
implementing marketing strategies to drive revenue growth and brand recognition,
CFOs closely track cash flow and analyse financial strengths and weaknesses to
propose strategic direction, and COOs handles business operationsincluding human
resources by overseeing operations and administrations. Through profit- and
efficiency-oriented collaborations among the four key dimensions of business, a
business can systematically increase profit and market share. In a small company
with a small multi-tasking staff, the CEO does not necessarily have to hire
professionals to head each section since overstaffingheavily burdens the HR budget.
For a smooth business operation, however, each of the four dimensions and six
functions examined above must be covered.
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ABCD EFG HIJK LMNOP QRS WYZ
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