Main functional areas within a business organisation
Even in the smallest business a number of key tasks, or functions, must be done regularly. Stock must be bought, bills must be paid, customers must be served and customer enquiries must be answered. In a small firm all these jobs may be done by one or two people. In a large organisation, people specialise in different tasks. Tesco and Sainsbury’s, for example, have buyers to purchase the stock, accounts staff to pay the bills, checkout staff to serve customers and customer service staff to answer queries.
Functional areas in business
In a large organisation, it is usually easier to identify separate functional areas because people work together in departments. Each department carries out the tasks that relate to its particular area. The main ones you are likely to meet in business are shown below.
Functional areas in business organisations
• Sales Distribution
• Production Research and development (R & D)
• Administration Customer service
• Marketing ICT Human resources Finance
The purposes of functional areas
The main purpose of functional areas is to ensure that all important business activities are carried out efficiently. This is essential if the business is to achieve its aims and objectives. In addition, specific areas will be responsibility for supporting specific types of aims and objectives, for example: sales and marketing will be involved in achieving targets linked to developing new markets or increasing sales human resources will be involved in arranging staff training activities and supporting the continuous professional development of all staff
Functional area is a person, area or department which carries out a particular business function, for example, finance, sales or customer service.