Analysis of Functional Areas and Skills at IOM Electronics

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the functional areas within a business, using IOM Electronics as a case study. It begins with an introduction to the concept of functional areas and their importance, followed by a definition of business and its various forms. The report then delves into the key functional areas of IOM Electronics, including marketing, human resources, customer service, finance, research and development, and sales. Each area is described in detail, highlighting its specific functions and contributions to the overall business objectives. Furthermore, the report identifies the essential skills required by employees to work effectively within each functional area, such as creativity, communication, teamwork, analytical skills, and time management. The report concludes by emphasizing the interconnectedness of these functional areas and their collective role in achieving organizational goals. References to academic sources support the analysis.

World Of Work
(Functional Areas)
Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................3
What is business ?.......................................................................................................................3
What is functional areas of business? ........................................................................................3
What is key functional areas of a business ?...............................................................................4
Description of the various functional areas in business organisation.........................................4
Description of the type of skills needed by employees to be able to work effectively in these
functional areas...........................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Functional areas of a business can be defined as the integrated parts of a business firm
which help in carrying out the operational activities. Like a human body have a different organs
to perform a different functions of body, in a similar way there are different organs which
execute the activities of a business firm (Büdenbender and Aalbers, 2019). These functional
areas depends on the size and scope of company along with the nature and area in which it
operates. IOM electronic is a well recognised regional level company with a total number of
workforce of 200, operating majorly in two areas Liverpool and Manchester. Below mentioned
report covers various functional areas of IOM electronics along with the identification of skills
and expertise required by employees to work in each department efficiently.
Main Body
What is business ?
A business can be any profession, trade, occupation or an commercial activity which is
conducted with the objective of earning one's living or manufacturing or selling a goods of
services in exchange of money with the objective of making profit. The business can be also be
for a non-profit making which is regarded as for a social work or for charity (Chong and et. al.,
2019). Business can take a tangible form by creating a legal entity for carrying out a business
activity which can be formed through various means such as sole-proprietorship, partnership,
corporation, non-governmental entities etc.
What is functional areas of business?
According to the viewpoint of Sevilla, (2015), Business entities separates the work into
distinct parts as the per the nature, size, skills, expertise and experience of an employees required
to perform work in each distinct parts. These parts are regarded as the functional department
where employees are clubbed together with the common skills and knowledge required by each
functional departments to work effectively and efficiently. Generally business segregates its
work into four major areas which are marketing, operations, human resource and finance.
However there are other areas too such research and development, sales, manufacturing,
information technology, purchasing, customer service, depending on the nature and size of a
business.

What is key functional areas of a business ?
Each and every business constitute a different processes which are carried out by a
distinct functional areas of business which is essential for smooth functioning of business firm
with efficient and effectiveness (Peerally, De Fuentes and Figueiredo, 2019). The activities of
these functional department of IOM electronics are inter-related with each other which helps in
attaining organisation objective within a stipulated period of time. Major key functional areas or
business units of IOM electronics is marketing, human resource, customer service, finance, sales,
research and development. These departments are inter-related and direct their efforts towards
common goals.
Description of the various functional areas in business organisation
Marketing
Each and every business have a specified department dedicated to the promotion and
advertisement with the aim of increasing sales of a company's products and services. Marketing
department of IOM electronics design and develop creative marketing campaign with the aim of
attracting new customer as much as possible along with designing effective price of the products,
opting for a right packaging material, as well as come up with a new and innovative products so
as to meet the demands of a target market (Bag, and et. al., 2020).
Human resource management
Indeed, Human resource management is concerned with managing people at workplace
with the aim of delivering quality work. Human resource management of IOM electronics aims
at acquiring right talent at right with the right set of skills so that business function smoothly and
efficiently. Apart from this IOM keeps the workforce motivated and updated with attractive
compensation and benefit plans, training and development programmes, and evaluates the
performance through appraisal programmes which enhance the satisfaction and confidence level
of employees.
Customer service
For each and every business customer is at the top priority list and the department is
dealing with the issue related customer (Spieth, and et. al., 2019). IOM electronics creates,
maintain and builds strong relationship with the customer through regular interactions with them
on various aspects such as processing of orders, handling queries, complaints, receiving

feedbacks and suggestions. Post sales services help IOM electronics in retaining and generating
valuable customer that result in increasing the sales of the company.
Finance
Finance is the essence of each and every business which is required at each level for
smooth functioning and survival a business entity (Baiyere, Salmela and Tapanainen, 2020).
IOM electronics efficiently manage the money matters with the help of accounting and finance
department which prepares financial statements, profit and loss statements, balance sheets which
helps IOM in financial planning, forecasting, strategic decisions, and other aspects of business
such as Human resource. One of the crucial role of finance department of IOM electronics is to
ensure that each and every employee gets a remuneration and financial benefits on time without
any delay.
Research and development
Changes are inherent to the each and every business firm, IOM electronics conducts
detailed research and development programmes so as to understand the changing needs of
customer with the objective of making changes to the existing offering or coming with a new and
innovative products for the survival of a business (Ritter and Schanz, 2019). Research and
development considers various factors which affect the overall profitability of a business and
suggest necessary measures to mitigate those.
Sales
Sales department of IOM electronics works closely with the marketing department with
the objective of boosting its sales revenue. IOM electronics set sales target for the sales team that
has to be achieved by them within a stipulated period of time with the objective of generating
cash so that business can function smoothly and efficiently. The sales team help the customer
getting relevant information about the products and how these are going to satisfy the wants and
desire of customer.
Description of the type of skills needed by employees to be able to work effectively in these
functional areas.
Skills needed by Marketing employees
 Creativity and out of the box thinking will help the IOM electronics in developing a
captivating marketing messages and campaigns (Peterson, Arregle and Martin, 2020).

 Communication skills will determine the effectiveness and accuracy to the message.
Designing clear, concise and accurate message will help customer in understanding the
message in a better way.
Skills needed by Human Resource Management employees
 One of the essential skills that determine overall productivity and performance level of
IOM electronics is god team work skills which enables employee to deliver a quality of
work within a desired time frame (Spieth, and et. al., 2019). Flexibility : One of the core principle of working in a difficult and challenging time is
flexibility which help the employees in easily adapting with the sudden changes. With
this trait employees of IOM electronics deliver quality work on time and remain
competitive in a challenging environment.
Skills needed by Customer service employees
 The basis of building strong relationships with the customer is having good listening
skills so as to understand the issue customer is facing and provide them a adequate
solution (Peerally, De Fuentes and Figueiredo, 2019). Another skill that can help IOM electronics in handling the customer queries is Patience.
Sometimes employee has to deal with angry and unsatisfied customer which may insult
or shout at him. Being patient helps in dealing with the unhappy customer with ease and
positivity.
Skills needed by Finance employees
 Analytical skills of an employee of IOM electronics helps in better analysing the situation
and provide a optimum solution before considering its implications and consequences of
the suggested solutions. Financial reporting enables the employees to prepare and maintain financial statements
which acts as financial guidance for the company (Chong and et. al., 2019). As per these
statement IOM electronics executes daily operation within a confined budget, manages
company's accounts receivable and payables, financial position of a company with profit
and loss statement and balance sheet.
Skills needed by Research and development employees

 Detail oriented is the key essential for the success of research projects. It is the prime
responsibility of research employees to take into account each and every minute detail
that affect business performance. Data collection is another skills that helps employees of research and development to
collect the relevant data from different sources so as to get the desired result from these
research reports.
Skills needed by sales employees
 Time management and planning determines the success and attainment of selling goals
within a stipulated period of time (Büdenbender and Aalbers, 2019).
 Social selling is the art rather a skills which is required by a sales force of IOM
electronics with the aim of increasing the sales revenue and continuous flow of goods
which in turn is essential for survival of business company.
CONCLUSION
Henceforth, it is concluded from above mentioned report that functional areas of business
performs distinct business process with the help of these function. These small business units are
created under a organisational framework with the aim of executing the business activities in a
productive manner. Employees in each department are clubbed together with the common skill
set and practices as per the requirement of each functional areas. Employees with specified set of
skills works with more concentration and satisfaction level. The activities of these departments
are inter-related so as to work towards the common goals.

REFERENCES
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