Functional Areas of Business: An Analysis of Skills and Requirements

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the functional areas within a business, using IOM Electronics Ltd. as a case study. It begins with an introduction to functional areas and their importance in achieving business objectives. The report then defines the concept of business and explores the key functional areas, including marketing, human resource management, customer service, finance, research and development, and sales. Each functional area is described in detail, highlighting its specific roles and responsibilities. The core of the report assesses the different types of skills required by employees to work effectively in each functional area, such as interpersonal, analytical, and communication skills. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of these skills for organizational success, referencing relevant literature. The report serves as a valuable resource for understanding the interconnectedness of business functions and the importance of employee skill development.

Functional areas

Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction................................................................................................................................1
2.0 What is business?.......................................................................................................................1
3.0 Functional areas of business......................................................................................................1
4.0 Determine what are the key functional areas of business?........................................................2
5.0 Description of the various functional areas in business organisation........................................2
5.1 Marketing.........................................................................................................................2
5.2 Human resource management..........................................................................................2
5.3 Customer service..............................................................................................................3
5.4 Finance.............................................................................................................................3
5.5 Research and development...............................................................................................3
5.6 Sales..................................................................................................................................3
6.0 Assess what are the different types of skills required by employees in order to work
effectively in these functional areas.................................................................................................4
6.1 Determine skills required by marketing employees.........................................................4
6.2 Assess what are the skills required by Human Resource Management employees.........4
6.3 Skills of Customer Service employees.............................................................................4
6.4 Skills needed by Finance employees................................................................................5
6.5 What are the skills required by Research and Development employees..........................5
6.6 Skills needed by Sales employees....................................................................................5
7.1 CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

1.0 Introduction
A functional area is defined as an area where employees of organisation have to perform
different activities and functions in order to operate their business effectively. To perform
different functions in different functional areas they have to do them accordingly. In the given
report IOM Electronics Ltd. Is taken as a base company. This organisation is operated by John
who is an individual person for running their business smoothly so that they can accomplish their
objectives. They are working in two cities which are Liverpool and Manchester in these two
cities 200 employees are currently working. The report includes functional areas and different
skills needed to perform various functional areas in organisation.
2.0 What is business?
The term 'Business' means that an entity which is engaged to perform different types of
work which include professionals, businessman, industrialists and many other. Many people
develop their business whether to earn profit or to work socially (Ansoff and et.al., 2018).
Those organisation who do not want to earn money means either they are charitable trust or
social work. In simple words, it can be said that business means that organisation have to operate
their functions to distribute goods and services to customers in order to earn profit. With the
reference to IOM electronics Ltd., they are selling electronics goods to customer so that they can
achieve their set target which leads to increase the profitability level of organisation. As in this
200 employees are operating in two cities to produce electronic products to customer in
marketplace.
3.0 Functional areas of business
In business, functional area is an area which has different areas where they have to
operate their business in order to run their business smoothly in order to achieve business
objectives. In functional areas various people are involved from different department according
to their skills and knowledge to perform a work (Bjorvatn and Wald, 2018). Not only department
have different functions but different size of organisation also perform according to their
operations. Small organisation have only few employees to work as there are various activities
which include customer service, payments and queries related to particular product whereas large
organisation do not have such problems to perform their works because they have different
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department to perform different activities in organisation. In context to IOM Electronics Ltd, as
they are small and regional type of organisation which is operate by an individual person as there
are few employees to produce electronic goods and services.
4.0 Determine what are the key functional areas of business?
In organisation, they should take knowledge regarding different areas in organisation
with the help of this they can effectively manage their operations and activities in order to
achieve business objectives successfully (Harmon, 2019). It becomes difficult for organisation to
implement their rules, policies and regulation when functional areas in organisation are not
divided. Main aim of functional areas is that they have to focus on division of functional areas so
that they can effectively manage and operate business effectively. With the reference to IOM
Electronics Ltd. There are different functional areas and perform their work accordingly. Such as
research and development department have to research for new products and innovate new
products in market. On the other sales department achieve to implement their strategies to
achieve the set target in organisation.
5.0 Description of the various functional areas in business organisation
The given organisation which is IOM Electronic Ltd has various functional areas so that
they can achieve their objectives in an appropriate manner (Hoerl and Snee, 2020). They have to
operate in proper manner by implement various policies in organisation so that they can attain
the set objectives.
5.1 Marketing
IOM Electronics Ltd. Have to retain new as well as existing customer in market so that
they can satisfy the requirements of customer in market. They should take regular feedback from
customer which will help them to introduce products accordingly (Kerzner, 2019). The selected
organisation can conduct market campaigns, advertisement as they can give them attracting
catalogues which include images and information about product according to the products sold
by them.
5.2 Human resource management
The is human resource management in functional area which means IOM Electronics
have to select and recruit most talented candidates in organisation with the help of this they can
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effectively recruit candidates which have proper skills and knowledge to operate in electronic
industry so that they can easily solve problems and issues of organisation (Monden, 2019). They
have to conduct training and development sessions for new as well as existing employees in
organisation.
5.3 Customer service
With the reference to IOM Electronics Ltd, is that to operate the functional areas in an
efficient manner they have to give better services to customer so that they can increase the
satisfaction level of customer in their organisation. In order to build customer experience the
selected organisation have to solve the queries of customers and they should give extra services
which include after sales services which help them to influence customer to purchase their
electronic products from their organisation.
5.4 Finance
This is the most functional area which is very important as the selected organisation
should regularly maintain their accounts so that they can pay the amount and collect payment
from customer which is due. As they have to set budget so that they can effectively manage their
resources. The functional area of financial department is that they can effectively set budget and
tell specified department so that they do not invest in unnecessary resources.
5.5 Research and development
Research and development is the another financial area where they have to research in
market that what are the innovation that are developed to compete the business environment
(Rosa, Sassanelli and Terzi, 2019). With the help of this they have to research what are the need
and demand of customer in market then they can introduce new electronics product which will
help IOM Electronics Ltd. To gain competitive advantage in industry.
5.6 Sales
A sale is the last functional area where they have to sell their goods and services in
market. IOM Electronics Ltd has to only focus on selling their goods in order to generate profit
and can enhance productivity and profitability level in organisation.
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6.0 Assess what are the different types of skills required by employees in order
to work effectively in these functional areas
There are various skills needed to perform the functional areas in different departments
so that they can effectively perform their duties in order to gain competitive advantage and can
generate revenue in organisation (Schenkel, 2018). The skills needed by them will help them to
adopt proper skills which are required in organisation according to the industry where they are
operating. Some of the skills needed by employees in different department in context to IOM
Electronics Ltd which is mentioned in detail below:
6.1 Determine skills required by marketing employees
The skills needed by marketing employees are interpersonal skills, analytical skills,
creativity and ability so that they can target their audience in an effective manner. By adopting
these skills they can promote their electronics goods of IOM Electronics Ltd. The skills will help
employees to promote their goods and services so that customer can attract and purchase their
electronics product.
6.2 Assess what are the skills required by Human Resource Management employees
The skills required by human resource manager are that employees should have
communication skill, administrative expert, knowledge of HRM and many other skills. By
adopting these skills they can effectively manage activities and employees in organisation. They
can solve problems, take feedback and recruit talented employees which have proper skills,
knowledge which help IOM Electronics Ltd to achieve business objectives effectively. They can
monitor the performance of employees on regular basis which will also help organisation to give
reward according to their performance so that they motivate employees to develop their skills.
6.3 Skills of Customer Service employees
The is customer service as the skills required by these type of employees is adopted by
them. The skills include persuasive speaking skills, adaptability, clear communication, positive
attitude skills and many other (Shams and et. al., 2019). In context to IOM Electronics Ltd., by
giving training to employees for adopting skills help them to create better customer experience.
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6.4 Skills needed by Finance employees
Skills required to employees of IOM Electronics Ltd. In finance department is that formal
qualification, problem solving skills, relationship management skills and many other skills. With
the help of these skills employees effectively can develop budget.
6.5 What are the skills required by Research and Development employees
Skills required by employees in research and development department are that they
should have a capacity to work together which will help them to innovate new products in
market. With the help of these skills they can effective understand and research the needs and
requirement of customers in market (Wang and et. al., 2019). The skills include for research and
development of employees such as reasoning skills, creativity skills, teamwork and many other
skills.
6.6 Skills needed by Sales employees
The last is skills which is required to sales employees because they have to sell their
goods and services. The other reason is to have skills is that they can attract employees from
their skills in order to achieve the set target. The skills required by sales employees include
listening skills, negotiation skills, presenting skills. With the help of this the employees of IOM
Electronics Ltd can better understand the requirements of customer because they can sell
electronics goods according to their need.
7.1 CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it is concluded that business is important term because they
are the one who produce goods and services in organisation. The report discuss about functional
areas such as HRM, Finance, marketing, customer service and many other. There are various
skills which are needed by employees in organisation so they can effectively implement their
strategies and implement them successfully. With the help of this selected organisation can
effectively operate in an appropriate manner.
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REFERENCES
Book and Journals
Ansoff, H.I. and et. al., 2018. Implanting strategic management. Springer.
Bjorvatn, T. and Wald, A., 2018. Project complexity and team-level absorptive capacity as
drivers of project management performance. International Journal of Project
Management, 36(6), pp.876-888.
Harmon, P., 2019. Business process change: a business process management guide for managers
and process professionals. Morgan Kaufmann.
Hoerl, R.W. and Snee, R.D., 2020. Statistical thinking: Improving business performance. John
Wiley & Sons.
Kerzner, H., 2019. Using the project management maturity model: strategic planning for project
management. John Wiley & Sons.
Monden, Y., 2019. Toyota management system: Linking the seven key functional areas.
Routledge.
Rosa, P., Sassanelli, C. and Terzi, S., 2019. Towards Circular Business Models: A systematic
literature review on classification frameworks and archetypes. Journal of Cleaner
Production, 236, p.117696.
Schenkel, W., 2018. Governing cities on the move: functional and management perspectives on
transformations of European urban infrastructures. Routledge.
Seno, J.P., and et. al., 2019. Cross-functional interconnectedness as an enabler of customer
value. Journal of business & industrial marketing.
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