Project: Functional Areas and Employee Skills at IMO Electronics Ltd

This project examines the essential business functions and the crucial skills required by employees within an organization, using the case study of IMO Electronics Ltd. The project begins with an introduction outlining the importance of business plans and understanding relevant aspects for business success, followed by a table of contents. Task 1 delves into the functional areas within a business, including finance, marketing, production, and research and development, emphasizing their roles and responsibilities. Task 2 focuses on the types of skills needed by employees in each functional area, such as accounting and analytical skills in finance, communication and negotiation skills in marketing, machining and product designing skills in production, and data handling and teamwork skills in research and development. The conclusion summarizes the importance of business functions and employee skills for organizational success, highlighting the need for ethical practices and adherence to company norms. The project also includes a list of references to support the information.

Project

Table of Contents
Introduction .........................................................................................................................................3
Main body ............................................................................................................................................3
Task 1....................................................................................................................................................3
Functional areas in business organisation............................................................................................3
Task 2....................................................................................................................................................4
Types of skills needed by the employees ............................................................................................4
Conclusion ...........................................................................................................................................6
REFERNCES ......................................................................................................................................7

Introduction
For start up of any business proper business plan is required to ensure the success of the
business. It is necessary for the person to understand and examine all the relevant aspects of
business for organising and running the business. Business function refer to activities required for
running the business which includes core and support functions (Falkner 2017). Core function is
related to the primary activities of earning income and support function includes the ancillary
functions required to complete the core functions. Every organisation and department performs
various tasks and function which includes sales, research and development, finance etc. This
scenario is based on the case study of John who won the money prize from the lottery ticket and
decided to run a business name of IMO electronics Ltd. It is well-known regional organisation
running with 200 employees over two sites in Manchester and Liverpool. The study is based on the
functional areas and skills required in employees for completing the task effectively.
Main body
Task 1
Functional areas in business organisation
Business organisation defines the structure of the business that how it is operated, owned
and helps in achieving its goals. In the company various business functions are performed such as
billing, stocking of the goods and materials, customer services etc. Business functions defines the
process of different activities performed by various departments which includes production,
finance, marketing, sales etc. The functions are classified into internal and external business
functions. Various functional areas in organisation are
1. Finance – It is considered as important function as business requires a regular check on the
funds. It involves the functioning of planning, managing and obtaining the funds of the
company. Various experts are hired by the company for financing. The manager is required
to plan the capital needs for the long term and short term purpose. The staff records all the
expenses and incomes occurred on the business to know the profitability earned by the
company. Accounting is a core aspect in the finance as accountant monitors the budgets,
keeps the records of day to day financial information , prepare cash flow statement, balance
sheet, income statement. This department is concerned with procurement and utilization of
the funds. The finance manager is responsible for presenting the financial transactions to the
government agencies, investors, internal and external parties (Geng and et. al., 2020).
2. Marketing – It defines the managerial activities which includes the identification of

customer needs and product and services are designed in such a way for meeting the needs.
To give the company an competitive edge over the competitors a marketing mix is
developed which consists the 4Ps of place, product, price, and promotion. To capture the
market share various pricing strategies are developed and promotional strategies are used for
the promotion of the goods and services such as advertisement, publicity campaigns,etc. The
functions performed in the marketing are carrying market research, obtaining promotional
activities, designing and promoting the products, and to ensure customer satisfaction.
3. Production – This is required by the manufacturing company where materials are converted
into the finished goods. The function defines the assembly and manufacturing of the goods
and services. It ensures the quality and maintains a check on the goods to be produced on
time and provided to the customer for meeting its needs. This determines the combination of
the inputs to be used in producing the goods. Raw materials are purchased from different
suppliers and stored near the production area. It includes the production planning which
defines what should be made, how, when and which machines and equipments should be
used. Production control keeps the check on the progress that they are according with the
standards (Koleoso and et. al., 2018).
4. Research and development – It defines the activities required to innovate and introduce the
new product and services. It is done in different sectors and industries widely used in
corporate, public and private sectors, government etc. Through market research products are
improved as new ideas are created for designing at reasonable cost. The contribution is
made for long term profitability. The functions performed are to research on the technology,
to check the quality of the product, updating the existing product with the new features. It
includes two types of research-basic research is a process of acquiring the knowledge and
using it for the purpose of creating understanding and intelligence for the advantage of the
company and applied research is a process of defining new product, researching new market
for achieving the specific task it includes the development phase (Skiltonand et. al., 2017).
Task 2
Types of skills needed by the employees
A skill defines the learning it is the ability to perform a task with the action and determining
the results. Each and every task requires different skill and helps in developing the personality of
the employee and the growth of the company. The leadership and management skills required are
motivation, people management, problem solving. The professionalism skills includes ethics,
integrity, honesty etc. Various skills required in employees for performing the task efficiently in

functional area.
1. Finance- It is the term related to the management of money and investment where investors
and government obtain the funds from external sources. The company obtains the funds
from various financial institutions the skill required by the employee are-
a) Accounting skills – It is process of recording, classifying, summarising, and interpreting the
financial transactions and presenting them in various reports. Financial statement are prepared for
analysing the financial transaction for the accounting period. Budgets are prepared on the basis of
information. Accountant requires the proper knowledge of accounting principles, conventions,
standards, techniques, cash flow management, cost analysis, cost reduction, journal entry etc.
b) Analytical skills- It defines the technical skills of analysing the financial information and
describing the scenario and drawing the conclusions. An finance employee must require this skills
in order to think logicically. The skill is used for decision making, financial planning, forecasting,
restructuring, risk analysis, valuation and value added analysis etc.
2. Marketing- It defines the ability of buying and selling the goods and services through
advertisement, promotions etc. The product is directly offered to the consumer or
businessman by the marketer. The purpose of marketing is to attract the customers by
making the product according to their needs and preferences. The skills required by the
marketer for understanding the marketing strategies and tactics (Lawton 2017).
a) Communication- Marketing requires the professional communication for communicating about
the product in the public. The marketer should have the knowledge of the customer needs and wants
and designing the product according to there preferences. It creates the multimedia campaigns. It
involves the selecting and training brand ambassadors for product promoting, taking feedback from
customers, composing direct marketing communications, writing reposts and executive summaries.
b) Negotiation- It is the skill required in marketing for negotiating with the clients between the
buyer and seller. It is done for reducing the debts, sales price of the product. In the company the
employee negotiates for higher pay, retirement benefits, vacation etc. The marketer involves the
bargaining power of reducing cost, managing budgets, negotiating rates and terms (Leader-Newby
2017).
3. Production – It requires the experience for manufacturing the products by combining the
various inputs. The responsibility of the production worker is to assembly the goods, storing
in warehouse, maintaining proper equipments. The skills required by the employee -
a) Machining- The employee should have the skill on working of the machine as it involves in
creating shapes, designs, structures by using the metal and other materials for creating the product.

It is the responsibility of the employee for maintenance of the machine as it saves time and money
of the company. It also involves the cutting, forming, grinding, and drilling. The tools can be
operated through human or computer (Maniora 2017).
b) Product designing- The skill is required by the employee for developing the new product. New
ideas are created and designed for the greater sales. It includes various tools such as graphic
designing, computer aided design software, prototyping tools etc.
4. Research and Development- It is important for the company growth as it requires the
knowledge of identifying new ideas, designing, and market research. The skills required in
R&D
a) Handling data - The employee should have the ability to manage the large data and performing
data analysis of high level. It requires the innovations and advance technologies for improvement of
the products. It also comprises the information about the market demand and its competitors (Preda
2018).
b) Team work – The employees of the department should work in team as they have to maintain
the coordination with other departments of marketing, production, finance etc. Through the team
work complex problem is solved and the employee should be active in listening.
Conclusion
From this case study conclusion has been made that for running and success of the company
business functions plays an important role as it is required in every department and the employees
must posses the different skills to perform the functions of the management. It involves the team
work, Problem solving, leadership etc. All the functions should be performed within the ethics and
norms of the company.

References-
Books and Journals
Falkner, R., 2017. Business power and conflict in international environmental politics. Springer.
Geng and et. al., 2020. Exploring the effects of congestion charge on relocation decisions under
non-capital functions relieving strategy in Beijing. Research in Transportation Business &
Management, p.100469.
Koleoso and et. al., 2018. Comparison of strategic content of facilities managers functions with
other building support practitioners in Lagos, Nigeria. Property Management.
Lawton, T.C., 2017. Cleared for take-off: Structure and strategy in the low fare airline business.
Routledge.
Leader-Newby, R.E., 2017. Silver and society in late antiquity: functions and meanings of silver
plate in the fourth to seventh centuries. Routledge.
Maniora, J., 2017. Is integrated reporting really the superior mechanism for the integration of ethics
into the core business model? An empirical analysis. Journal of business ethics, 140(4),
pp.755-786.
Preda, F.R., 2018. TRANSPARENCY IN EXERCISING PUBLIC OFFICES, PUBLIC
FUNCTIONS AND IN BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT. Challenges of the Knowledge
Society, pp.1109-1120.
Skiltonand et. al., 2017. The 4th industrial revolution: Responding to the impact of artificial
intelligence on business. Springer.