Business Report: Sainsbury's Departmental Functions and Skills

This business report provides an analysis of Sainsbury's, a UK-based supermarket chain, focusing on the roles and importance of different functional departments within the organization. The report examines the finance, human resources, marketing, and production departments, highlighting their respective responsibilities and contributions to the overall success of the business. Furthermore, the report identifies and discusses essential academic skills and techniques crucial for undergraduate students, including communication, problem-solving, analytical, presentation, note-taking, and numerical skills. The report emphasizes the interconnectedness of these departments and the significance of these skills for achieving academic and professional success. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and reinforcing the importance of effective departmental functioning and the development of essential undergraduate skills. The report uses various sources to back up the claims made.

Business Report

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO1..................................................................................................................................................3
Importance of different departments of an organization .............................................................3
LO3..................................................................................................................................................4
Academic skills and techniques important for undergraduate student........................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Successful business come with a lot of efforts put by different departments of an
organization. The different departments have a different role to play in an organization which are
crucial for achieving different business objectives. In this report, Sainsbury is taken as an
organization. It is a supermarket chain in UK which provides various products from groceries to
homewares, clothing and electronics. This report is about different roles and importance of
business function and the skills essential for an undergraduate student to be successful.
LO1
Importance of different departments of an organization
There number of functional departments in an organization and each department has its
own role and objectives to play which are essential for the business (Guo and et.al, 2017).
Importance of different departments are stated below.
Finance
The finance department works on analysing the financial position of the business which
helps in taking various decision related to business. It also provides budgets and plans required
for executing business plans (Gartenstein, 2019). It assists in making investment decisions. In
Sainsbury, its finance team is very efficient to work in coordination with each other and is a team
of highly professional individuals.
Human resource
The human resource department of an organization are responsible for maintaining the
required workforce (Stewart and Brown, 2019). It includes recruitment, selection, training and
development of employees, complying with employment laws, motivating the employee and
establishing a positive work environment (Banfield, Kay and Royles, 2018). In Sainsbury, HR
team is very efficient in meeting with its roles and responsibilities.
Marketing
The marketing department plays many roles for the success of the organization which
includes market research, price fixing, analysing the demand and supply of the product and also
helps in determining the changing trends and consumer taste (Kirova, 2017). In Sainsbury, the
marketing team is highly efficient in identifying the and analysing the competitive position of the
business with respect to threats and opportunities available.
Production

The production department is responsible for making sure the production process is
working as per the requirement (Jones and Kierzkowski, 2018). It requires managing the
production of products. Its major role is to maintain proper inventory of material and products to
meet the demand. Also, it is responsible for maintenance of the machinery. In Sainbury, its
production team works in coordination which helps in achieving effective performance and
productivity.
The different function of various departments are required to work in coordination with
one another to effectively run the business. Each and every department is related to each other.
For example, finance department will provide budgets to different department based on its
requirement to carry out the activities for a specific period. Similarly, other department are also
connected.
LO3
Academic skills and techniques important for undergraduate student
The different skills essential are stated below (6 Academic Skills Every Successful Student
Needs. 2020).
 Communication skills
 Problem solving skills
 Analytical skills
 Presentation skills
 Note taking skills
 Numerical skills
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from above that for proper and effective functioning of an
organization it is very essential to have smooth functioning of different departmental functions.
Also, some crucial skills which are required by the undergraduate student in order to achieve
success.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Banfield, P., Kay, R. and Royles, D., 2018. Introduction to human resource management.
Oxford University Press.
Guo, L. and et.al, 2017. Different departments, different drivers. International Journal of
Operations & Production Management.
Jones, R. W. and Kierzkowski, H., 2018. The role of services in production and international
trade: A theoretical framework. World Scientific Book Chapters. pp.233-253.
Kirova, V., 2017. Exploring the role of strategic marketing department. Journal of Marketing
Development and Competitiveness. 11(2).
Stewart, G. L. and Brown, K. G., 2019. Human resource management. John Wiley & Sons.
Online
6 Academic Skills Every Successful Student Needs. 2020. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.youniversitytv.com/college-tips/6-academic-skills-every-successful-
student-needs/>.
Gartenstein, D., 2019. What Roles Does the Finance Department Play in a Business?. [Online].
Available through: <https://bizfluent.com/facts-5683333-role-finance-department-play-
business-.html>.
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