1. Briefly identify what you consider to be the key departments/functions within businesses (this is not the main emphasis of the task, so please keep this to the minimum and save the majority of your word count for parts 2 and 3)
2. Explain the process you used to conduct this research, the key problems you encountered and the sources you considered to be most credible, and why
3. Finally, identify how you will apply what you have learned in this exercise to your future studies?
A business house runs on the cooperative involvement of the various departments which works simultaneously to foster growth and cater to its consumers. Any Company is generally run by a number of departments with subordinate departments and committees. Identifying the roles and functions of each department is the main factor that leads to the success of the Business (Burrow, 2002).
1. The organizational departments of a Company can vary according to the kind of business they do. Often extra emphasis is given on particular departments than the other because of the type of product and services they offer. A Consulting firm would focus on the human resource department whereas a Retailing company would focus on sales and operation. The management function of an organization depends on the effective performance and association of the departments in meeting the goals and carrying out their responsibilities to assess the external and internal environments and strategize on those factors. Thus the most general organizational departments are stated below (Wardell.biz, 2015):
Administration-this department consists of the CEO, the president, the directors and the other managers who form the board. Often the shareholders are also included in the administration process like decision making for various activities. They oversee the departmental mangers and make all major decisions regarding the strategies to be implemented or the budget to be allocated.
Production & Operation- the department undertakes the activities necessary to provide for the products and services. Its responsibilities are production planning and scheduling, control and supervision of the workforce, managing the quality through control and monitoring, maintenance of the plant and equipment, control of inventory and deciding the best production methods and factory layout. The department has to work closely with the R & D department for measuring method and cost, with the marketing department to specialize the product attributes which will attract the customers. The Finance and HR department will also be needed to consult the expenditure and the motivation and controlling of workforce.
Research & Development- it is concerned with the developing of new products and improving the existing products. It also searches for new methods and scope for the marketing department to provide the customers the most efficient and effective products.
Purchasing- it is concerned with acquiring goods and services for the company. It includes raw materials, components for manufacturing and production. It also extends to buying goods for the entire organization like the furniture, fixture, computer and stationeries. The department takes into account a number of factors like Quantity, quality, price and delivery when purchasing an item.
Marketing & Sales- it is concerned with identifying and generating customer needs and wants and also brand awareness of the product and service so that to enhance the image or increase the sales. It has an array of activities depending upon the current requirement of the company which needs to be undertaken. Marketing is managed through the marketing mix items of developing and maintain the product, price, promotion, place, people, process and physical evidence. Marketing and sales are teamed together as marketing generates sales and sales promotion is a part of marketing. Marketing department apply different strategies to meet their targets (Bosari, 2012).
Human Resource- the department deals with recruiting and selecting the right people to carry out various tasks of the organization. Training and developing them, managing employee relations, dealing with the grievance and disciplinary matters as well as health and safety matters and providing motivation are few of its tasks. Nowadays it is one of the major departments which make or mar an organization (Efron, 2015).
Accounting & Finance- the function of this department is tracking, updating the financial records and statements. Preparing reports such as balance sheets, income and cash flow statement also falls under the scope. Preparing the accounting information and analysis to help planning and strategy formation is a very important task undertaken by the Company (Pacific Crest Group, 2013). Payroll administration also taken up by the very same department (Mayhew, 2015).
Information Technology- this department concerns about the information technology and software’s that are used or integrated into the system of the business. Maintain of the IT system, updating and protecting it, running of online portals and managing the issues of Cyber crime are done by the IT department. This department mostly works with the sales and marketing and the accounting department.
Hence these are the key departments whose collaboration and effective activities will lead to a Company running successfully and completing its objectives (GANEY, 2004).
2. The organizational departments are key to the proper running of a business house. Identifying the departments was not that easy as it seemed. There are a whole labyrinth of departments and sub departments in the organizations, identifying the key departments and understanding their functions and roles meant consulting a range of online articles and sites through online libraries and books. It is the roles and functions primarily which provide the guidance in identifying the departments and how they act together to deliver their services (Schlosser, 2013).
Firstly a research was conducted among the peers and seniors who either works or have worked in and organization. They were asked about the various departments they have worked for directly and indirectly. This kind of research was conducted online by sending these individuals emails of survey sheets which were utilized. Sites like surveymonkey.com were used for conducting the survey.
Another part of primary search was going through Google books and online journals like the African business journals to understand the organizational departments and structures that are involved in providing a functional business to the Company. The trade journals accounts the activities of the various departments of international companies and how or what changes they are implementing. Studying the journals, magazines and a number of Google books provided a lot of insight into the matter and how the departments come to formation and function together (Moss and Strauss, 2004).
The secondary search was going through normal online search in search engines and the results were plenty. A lot of departments and functions were sighted. Some were even complicated and broad. Going thorough individual company sites or case studies was helpful in demarcating the key departments from the rest. The authenticity is often questioned here and only certified educational websites or certified company websites are thought to be genuine and provided the most compact and relevant solution (Hrmagazine.co.uk, 2015).
While completing the research a number of obstacles, restrictions and restrains were encountered this made the process a little tedious. Hence greater caution was used in assessing the sources and the information provided.
1. The primary resources were hard to come by as time was a restraint and . This information was credited since their collected directly and the knowledge was practical. Yet since the people interviewed were not academics hence some information was taken as exaggeration.
2. The second research was going through like. K Anbuvelan in his book Principles of Management stated that “Production sales department may be decentralized because of the urgency to take quick decisions; finance department may be centralized due to the need to obtain funds for the organization as a whole”. Also it was stated “Functional departments, such as finance, manufacturing, marketing, sales, engineering and purchasing, have their own bodies of knowledge, language and culture. Functional silos arise and become a major barrier to strategy implementation, since most organizations have great difficulty communicating and coordinating across these functions. For organizational performance to be more than the sum of its parts, individual strategies must be linked and integrated
This was articles written and published on academic sites by experts of the field who provide a clear explanation of the various departments and how they work collaboratively for the Company.
1. The secondary research was surfing through online sites like the company websites which provided enough idea on the teams that work behind a company in each department and how innovations are brought into foray. A lot of unauthenticated sites cropped up. There were issues like spam, jumbled up opinions and irrelevant information. It is a proper search through the jungle of the web that ultimately yielded answers helpful .
2. Other obstructions faced were absence of pages in Google books as buying all the books is not possible, old and obsolete ideas in the publications. Internet failure, spam mails, pop-ups which created mild problems in the whole research objective. At the end of the day all the information was collected, evaluated, segregated, understood and compiled in a compact manner (News.walmart.com, 2015).
3. The exercise was helpful in the process of personal learning. It provided a huge scope for developing oneself and learning the technique of optimized searching. This research activity was helpful not only to make me understand the skills and techniques that are required to understand the process of researching but also provided me much insight into the subject of business and organizational management (María Martínezâ€ÂLeón and Martínezâ€ÂGarcía, 2011).
1. The research activity will help me further in conducting elaborative research on consumer culture or business culture .
2. Also this will help me further in the planning and strategy making process
3. The information on key departments and functions will provide much insight on the important functional departments in the organizations and how they impact the business
4. The relevancy and activities in the departments has helped me understanding different types of organizations on the basis of their departments and what different strategies or formations they will require
5. Lots of information on current trend is gathered which will help me If I feel of starting my own business.
6. The process of judging the sources of information, assessing the credibility will not only help in the decision making process but will also helps in the future to assess the credibility of organizations or suppliers and how I should sort them.
7. Finally this process was helpful having the learning outcome of understanding the differences in the departments and how they work together to run a business fully functional and efficient .
Conclusion
The study was on the key departments and functions of the businesses. These departments were identified through research and analysis from different sources including offline and online methods. A lot of articles have been gone through to understand how these departments were different and yet working together mutually to provide efficiency into the system.
Few restraints have been met while completing the research like lack of proper authentic information or unwillingness or exaggerated information provide personally. But at the end of the day this activity was very helpful in providing the much needed insight in the present business scenario and how such tasks should be undertaken in the future.
References
Bosari, J. (2012). The Developing Role of Social Media in the Modern Business World. [online] Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/moneywisewomen/2012/08/08/the-developing-role-of-social-media-in-the-modern-business-world/ [Accessed 15 Jul. 2015].
Burrow, J. (2002). Business management. Australia: South-Western/Thomson Learning.
Efron, L. (2015). What Organizations Need Now From Human Resources. [online] Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/louisefron/2014/08/18/what-organizations-need-now-from-human-resources/ [Accessed 15 Jul. 2015].
GANEY, V. (2004). Managing multidisciplinary departments. Respiratory Care Clinics, 10(2), pp.197-210.
Hrmagazine.co.uk, (2015). HR Magazine – How the HR division at Wal-Mart drives the company’s success through people. [online] Available at: https://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/hro/analysis/1018448/how-hr-division-wal-mart-drives-companys-success-people [Accessed 15 Jul. 2015].
Iveybusinessjournal.com, (2015). BUILDING A STRATEGY-FOCUSED ORGANIZATION | Ivey Business Journal. [online] Available at: https://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/building-a-strategy-focused-organization/ [Accessed 15 Jul. 2015].
Krausz, M. (2010). Managing information security breaches. Ely: IT Governance Pub.
María Martínezâ€ÂLeón, I. and Martínezâ€ÂGarcía, J. (2011). The influence of organizational structure on organizational learning. Int J of Manpower, 32(5/6), pp.537-566.
Mayhew, R. (2015). Key Functions of an HR Department. [online] Business & Entrepreneurship – azcentral.com. Available at: https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/key-functions-hr-department-1146.html [Accessed 15 Jul. 2015].
Moss, R. and Strauss, D. (2004). Strauss’s handbook of business information. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
Nauta, A. and Sanders, K. (2001). Causes and consequences of perceived goal differences between departments within manufacturing organizations. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 74(3), pp.321-342.
News.walmart.com, (2015). Walmart Announces Organizational Changes. [online] Available at: https://news.walmart.com/news-archive/2010/01/28/walmart-announces-organizational-changes [Accessed 15 Jul. 2015].
Pacific Crest Group, (2013). Key Functions of Your Accounting Department. [online] Available at: https://www.pcg-services.com/key-roles-accounting-department/ [Accessed 15 Jul. 2015].
Schlosser, F. (2013). Identifying and Differentiating Key Employees from Owners and Other Employees in SMEs. Journal of Small Business Management, 53(1), pp.37-53.
Spadaccini, M. (2007). Business structures. Irvine, CA: Entrepreneur Press.
Wardell.biz, (2015). About Wardell Business Advisory. [online] Available at: https://www.wardell.biz/blog/main/2013/5 [Accessed 15 Jul. 2015].
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