Business - unit 2 business functions

• What is functional departments?


  when a business has a traditional hierarchical structure, it will be typically structured by functional departments
• Give an example of a functional department


  departments with clearly defined roles and responsibilities
• What do functional departments help with?


  • communication, as people know who to speak to if a problem arises

  • workers understanding their roles and how the business works, setting out the responsibilities of each part of the business.
• What are the functional areas in most large companies?


  • marketing (sales and marketing)

  • human resources (personnel)

  • finance (accounts)

  • operations (production).
• How are department roles connected even when they are separate?


  • the human resources department is responsible for making sure that the other departments have enough workers with the right skills

  • the finance department ensures that there is money available to carry out activities across all departments

  • marketing works with production by providing information about the products that customers want

  • purchasing has the job of making sure that there are enough materials for production to manufacture.
• Business goals in the cross-functional social media team


  purchasing - pre-purchasing research

  sales - finds new sales leads

  marketing - monitor campaigns + market research

  customer service - efficient customer support

  PR - reputation management
• What are functional objectives?


  These are the goals of each of the functional departments and, if a business is to be successful, then these objectives must be closely tied to the corporate objectives
• Give an example of functional objectives


  If the marketing department sets itself a goal of achieving 10% more sales over the next year, whilst the human resources department is seeking to reduce staffing by 5% across the company in the same period, then they are likely to be working against each other.
• What must functional objectives goals must be and why?


  Goals must be carefully coordinated to ensure that they are consistent with the corporate objectives – in other words, all departments are working together to achieve the same overall objectives of the organisation.
• Give an example of a functional objective goal being carefully coordinated


  In a car manufacturing business, operations management is likely to employ the majority of the workforce. Nonetheless, the other functional departments are essential to the success of the business. No matter how efficiently the production line is run, there is no point in producing thousands of cars per week if the sales and marketing department have not persuaded enough potential customers to purchase them.
• What must happen to functional departments to achieve a common set of objectives set out in the corporate plan?


  must work in conjunction with one another in order
• What are the functional departments of Microsoft corporation>


  • finance and accounting
  • production and operations
  • research and development
  • customer service/support
  • marketing and sales
  • human resources
• What are the sections of finance accounting?


  • cash management
  • inventory
  • company assets
• What are the sections of production and operations?


  • manufacturing
  • warehouse
  • labour
• What are the sections of research and development?


  • product improvement
  • product development
  • competing technology
• What are the sections of customer service/support


  • IT support
  • administrative support
  • customer relations
• What are the sections of marketing and sales?


  • advertisement
  • product pricing
  • market analysis
• What are the sections of human resources?


  • jobs
  • salaries
  • employee relations