Functions within Organisations What is a ‘Function’? The actions and activities assigned to or required or expected of a person or group Functions within Organisations Accounts or finance Design Sales Production (or service provision) Distribution Marketing ICT services Research and development Administration Human resources

Functions within Organisations Accounts or Finance Carries out all tasks relating to money that comes into the organisation and money that it pays out. Recording payments received for goods/services Banking payments made using cash/cheques Arrange payment to suppliers for stock, raw materials or services (.e.g water, gas, electric, telephone, rent, mortgage repayments, loan payments) Arrange payment of staff wages Record/account keeping of transactions (For TAX/VAT/Shareholders to see and calculate)

Functions within Organisations Sales Responsible for selling an organisation’s products or services to its customers. Tasks carried out vary widely depending on nature of organisation. EXAMPLE - Shop Sales staff Help customers find products, take customer payments, wrap purchases. Ensure goods on display. Taking orders and reordering stock.

Functions within Organisations Distribution Responsible for moving goods from factory, farm or other source, to warehouse, and then to shops/customers. Most likely found in organisations that make/sell goods (rather than provide service). Ensuring packages correctly addressed. Arranging collection/delivery (postal or courier service) Sending by rail/air freight/road hauliers Running own fleet of vans/trucks/deliver goods (Supermarket chains fleets of lorries)

Functions within Organisations Marketing Responsible for planning future sales and monitor organisation’s relationship with customers / potential customers. Advertise organisations products/services Designing advertisements/buying advert space Designing flyers/arranging for distribution Arranging stand for organisation at trade fairs Updating organisation’s website Gather customer opinion (Market research e.g. Questionnaires)

Functions within Organisations Research and development Most likely to exist in organisations that manufacture products. Responsible for carrying out research into new techniques, technologies and materials to see if they can be applied to products/services supplied by organisation. Development function then develops new product/service. This may involve creating prototypes of new product/service

Functions within Organisations Human resources Responsible for dealing with organisation’s employees. When more staff needed, they… Organise placing of adverts / notifying local employment agencies Sending out application forms/receiving completed applications forms, CVs, application letters Short-listing applications, organising interviews, sending letters to successful/unsuccessful interview applicants.

Functions within Organisations Design Responsible for taking over where research and development function finishes. Takes ideas/prototypes developed by R & D and turns them into designs for products/services to be supplied to customers May design some products from scratch based on customer needs identified by market research They communicate extensively with R&D, production and marketing departments

Functions within Organisations Production (or service provision) Manufacturing Occurs only in organisations that manufacture products. It takes raw materials, parts and facilities and uses them to make products. This may be run using; Production line: members of production carry out a particular task as product moves along line Machines running tasks: production function involved in overseeing/maintaining machines and checking quality of products

Functions within Organisations Production (or service provision) Service Organisations In service organisations, this function called a ‘Provision’. Function responsible to provide service to customer. Tasks of function in service differ widely depending on service provided. (e.g. Airline – Pilot and flight crew fly the plane, Cabin crew look after passengers by serving food/drinks, looking after safety during flight)

Functions within Organisations ICT services Responsible for the provision of all computer facilities within the organisation. Obtaining, installing and maintaining hardware Managing local area/wide area networks services (LAN/WAN) Obtaining, installing and maintaining software Providing hardware/software support to ICT users Internal/external data communications (Maintaining organisation’s Intranet/Website)

Functions within Organisations Administration Responsible for the day-to-day running of an Organisation Looks after things such as: Buildings and facilities General maintenance and cleaning Fleet management Utilities Often used though to describe other functions that do not naturally fit into any other functions.

Task 1 Rewrite the following table so the correct functional area is correct with the task description Functional Areas Task Finance Recruiting people to fill a job vacancy Production Buying raw materials Purchasing Recording how much money the business earned yesterday Sales Turning raw materials into a finished product Marketing Explaining to a potential customer the benefits of buying the firm’s products Human Resources Giving advice to a customer who thinks the product they have just bought is faculty Customer Services Writing a questionnaire to find out how much people would be prepared to pay for a new product.

Functional Areas Task Finance Recording how much money the business earned yesterday Production Turning raw materials into a finished product Purchasing Buying raw materials Sales Explaining to a potential customer the benefits of buying the firm’s products Marketing Writing a questionnaire to find out how much people would be prepared to pay for a new product. Human Resources Recruiting people to fill a job vacancy Customer Services Giving advice to a customer who thinks the product they have just bought is faculty

Task 2 Complete the “Functions Quiz” found on Learn Coombe Dean. Print off the quiz and place in your exercise book.

Organisational Structures All businesses need some type of structure to work productively. Firms need specific job roles for the staff to make sure they know what they are doing and do not get in each other’s way The number of groups and how they are organised often varies according to size and main activities

Hierarchical Structures Some organisations have many levels of staff There may be a managing director at the top, then various levels of managers and supervisors, down to staff at the bottom. You might find this type of structure in a large retail or manufacturing business Store Manager Area Manager Checkout Operator Chief Executive Team Leader Director

Task 3 Read the “Logos R Us” scenario from Learn Coombe Dean and list all the job junctions and roles. Build an “organisation” structure chart to show the hierarchy of the company.