HR, Marketing, Finance Functions and Collaborative Practices Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the key organizational functions of human resources, marketing, and finance within a business context, using The Body Shop as a case study. It explores the specific roles and responsibilities of each department, including the management of the workforce, marketing strategies, and financial planning. The report also delves into the importance of collaborative working practices, emphasizing the benefits of teamwork and effective communication in achieving organizational goals. Furthermore, it discusses the role of financial management, including financial decision-making, planning, and reporting. The report concludes by highlighting the significance of these functions and practices in enhancing overall business profitability and productivity, underscoring the importance of a well-established brand image and collaborative efforts to achieve desired outcomes.

Portfolio Assignment

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................1
Discuss the role of HR, marketing and finance functions within business organisation.......1
Explain collaborative working practices................................................................................1
Discuss the role of financial management and report within business organisation..............1
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................1
References........................................................................................................................................2

Introduction
The organisational functions is defined as the set of activities carried out inside various
department of the business organisation in order to achieve certain goals and objectives, the are
number of functions performed by the business organisation such as marketing, finance,
operations and human resource, collaborative working towards the achieving the organisational
goals and objectives enhancing overall profitability and productivity of the business. The
collaborative working allows the effective exchange of communication, knowledge and
information within the business organisation. For this report The Body shop is taken into
consideration. The Body shop is a British cosmetic, skin care and perfume company started in
1976 by Dame Anita Roddick having more than 3000 stores. This report highlights the detailed
analysis of role of HR, marketing and finance within the organisation and analysis of
collaborative working practices. In addition to this the role of financial management in the
organisation is also highlighted.
Main Body
Discuss the role of HR, marketing and finance functions within business organisation
The business functions are the set of activities carried out by the different departments of
the organisation, collaboratively working towards achieving desired goals and objectives of the
organisation (Abe, 2020). There are various departments in the organisation each performing
specific functions such as human resource, marketing and finance. In context to the Body Shop
the role of various functions within organisation are discussed below:
Human resource: The human resource department is one of the essential functions of the
business organisation, the main role of human resource department is to manage and control the
workforce of the organisation, human resource ensures that there is availability of skilled
employees in each and every department. In addition to this the essential role of the human
resource is to hire, compensating, training, motivating and developing employees. In context to
the Body Shop the human resource department ensure that there is availability of skilled
workforce in the company and continuously providing training to employees in order to improve
their skills and overall performance (Al Zubaidi-Polli and Verdezoto, 2018).
Marketing: The another function is marketing, the role of marketing department is to
increase the sale and productivity of the organisation through attracting large number of
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customers using various marketing and promotional tools and techniques such as advertising,
direct selling, digital marketing and so on. The marketing department use these promotional
techniques to make consumer aware of the product and services, which leads to attracting large
numbers of customers. It can also include doing market research in order to analyse the current
market trends and customers taste and preferences also includes launching new product into the
market. In context to the chosen company, the role of marketing department is to ensure that
customers are aware of their product and services using social media and advertising.
Finance: The finance department of the organisation ensures that there is availability of
finance in each and every in order to carry out all the operations smoothly and easily, the finance
function of the business organisation is responsible for raising the fund from various sources
available (Ball and Lunt, 2020). The main role of the finance is to ensure the best source
available to raise the finance and handles the effective inflow and outflow of the cash. In context
to the Body Shop, the role of the finance department is to provide finance to each and every
department and also handle the inflow and outflow of cash effectively.
Explain collaborative working practices
One of the main reason for the success of any business is whether the employees of the
organisation are able to work in a team or not. Effective team work as well as creativity in the
team leads to the success and development of the business organisation. As working in a team or
group allows the employees to work more effectively and smoothly and also allow business to
achieve desired goals enhancing the overall productivity of the business (Caron and McLaughlin,
2019). The collaboration is termed as two or more individuals working together in a group or
team in order to achieve desired goals and objectives of the organisation through sharing their
skills and potential. The collaboration allows group members to work together in order to
achieve desired goals through thinking, brainstorming and providing creative and unique ideas
by exchanging thoughts with each other effectively. In addition to this working together as a
team also allow team members to have a sense of value and purpose as they are required to
achieve common goals so they see value in working together (Hargreaves and O'Connor, 2018).
In context to the chosen company having collaborative working will allow company to have
strong and creative team and will also help in achieving desired goals and objectives effectively.
Some of the ways through which company can build collaborative working environment is as
follow:
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Effective communication: The effective communication regarding the collaboration
among the team members will help company to effectively define the team members roles and
responsibilities and clarity of goals needed to be achieved by them (Page and Eadie, 2019).
Develop team goals: Another one of the development of team goals, clear set goals will
allow team members to move towards achieving them and enhancing the overall performance of
the organisation. The team members need to have clarity of their goals.
Empowering group members: The management needs to empower each and every group
members through providing required training ands enhancing their performance. The
management needs to effectively utilise the strength of the group members rather than focusing
on their weakness.
Offering rewards and benefits: In order to develop and enhance the collaborative
environment in the organisation the management needs to offer rewards and benefits to the team
members according their performance, this will help in motivating them to give their best. The
rewards and benefits are very essential in enhancing the performance of the team members and
motivating them to be more cooperative and creative in the team (Prasanna and Haavisto, 2018).
Discuss the role of financial management and report within business organisation
The finance is one of the most important part of any business organisation, whether profit
organisation or any other kind of business organisation it is impossible for them to survive
without finance in the market for a long period of time. The finance management allows business
organisation to effectively plan, manage and organise their finance. The finance management
ensures that there is availability of finance in each and every department of the organisation in
order to carry their activity smoothly and easily, it also helps in making finance available through
various sources available. The financial manager of the business organisation is responsible for
the inflow and outflow of the cash in the organisation and also take all the necessary decisions
related to finance (Queiroz and Telles, 2018). In context to the chosen organisation some of the
important roles and responsibility of the financial management is discussed below:
Financial decision: The finance manager of the organisation is responsible for taking all
the important decision related to finance in the organisation though the use of various financial
techniques like ratio analysis, profit and loss analysis and cash flow analysis of the organisation.
In context to Body Shop, the role of finance manager is to ensure the availability of finance
through taking all important decisions related to finance.
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Financial planning: Another responsibility of the finance manager is to plan all the
activities related to finance in the organisation so that they availability of the fiancé can be
handle easily and smoothly. In context to the chosen organisation, the finance manager of the
company takes all the necessary decisions related to finance in the organisation (Rajesh, 2018).
Finance reporting: The another responsibility of the finance manager of the organisation is
the finance reporting, it is termed as the process of informing the major shareholders of the
company about the actual financial position which includes the detailed information of the cash
flow, expenses, profit also the capital and cash flow of the company. In context to the Body
Shop, the shareholders are the major part of the company, the finance manager regularly informs
the financial position of the company to the shareholders (Risko and Bromley, 2020).
Conclusion
From the above report it can be concluded that the various function of the chosen
organisation such as human resource, marketing and finance are effectively carried out in the
organisation, the management of the organisation is effectively working towards the enhancing
the overall profitability of the organisation and improving productivity. The company has a well
established brand image in the market through collaborative working towards achieving desired
goals and objectives. This report highlights the role of various organisational functions and
detailed analysis of the collaborative working practices. In addition to this role of financial
management in the company is also highlighted.
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References
Books and Journals
Abe, M., 2020. Interactional practices for online collaborative writing. Journal of Second
Language Writing, 49, p.100752.
Al Zubaidi-Polli, A.M. and Verdezoto, N., 2018. Learning from appropriation practices:
Towards the next generation of e-participation environments enabling collaborative
writing in-situ and ex-situ. International Journal of Pervasive Computing and
Communications.
Ball, P. and Lunt, P., 2020. Lean eco-efficient innovation in operations through the maintenance
organisation. International Journal of Production Economics, 219, pp.405-415.
Caron, E.A. and McLaughlin, M.J., 2019. Indicators of beacons of excellence schools: What do
they tell us about collaborative practices?. In Journal of Educational & Psychological
Consultation (pp. 285-313). Routledge.
Hargreaves, A. and O'Connor, M.T., 2018. Collaborative professionalism: When teaching
together means learning for all. Corwin Press.
Page, J. and Eadie, P., 2019. Coaching for continuous improvement in collaborative,
interdisciplinary early childhood teams. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 44(3),
pp.270-284.
Prasanna, S.R. and Haavisto, I., 2018. Collaboration in humanitarian supply chains: an
organisational culture framework. International Journal of Production Research, 56(17),
pp.5611-5625.
Queiroz, M.M. and Telles, R., 2018. Big data analytics in supply chain and logistics: An
empirical approach. The International Journal of Logistics Management.
Chatzoglou, P. and Chatzoudes, D., 2018. The role of innovation in building competitive
advantages: an empirical investigation. European Journal of Innovation Management.
Rajesh, R., 2018. Pseudo resilient supply chains: concept, traits, and practices. Journal of Risk
Research, 21(10), pp.1264-1286
Risko, V.J. and Bromley, K. eds., 2020. Collaboration for diverse learners: Viewpoints and
practices. Routledge.
Sigala, M., 2018. Implementing social customer relationship management. International Journal
of Contemporary Hospitality Man
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