Business Functions

Question 1

Functional objectives

Answer 1

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.
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.
All functional departments must work in conjunction with one another in order to achieve a common set of objectives set out in the corporate plan.

Question 2

How can functional departments roles connect

Answer 2

• 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

Question 3

Explain functional departments

Answer 3

When a business has a traditional hierarchical structure, it will be typically structured by functional departments, i.e. departments with clearly defined roles and responsibilities.
This helps 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.

Question 4

Name functional areas in most large companies

Answer 4

• marketing (sales and marketing)
• human resources (personnel)
• finance (accounts)
• operations (production)