- Managing the firms financial assets – cash, stocks, bonds
and other investments
- Maximize return on financial assets
- Managing the capitalization of the firm (new assets in stock
bond, or other forms of debt)
- Responsible for obtaining information from sources outside
the firm, to determine best return on investments
- Profit analysis/planning, portfolio analysis
As the finance department acquires most of their sources from the profits, they need to be kept a sufficient level this will provide them with extra funding to increase the quality of their products therefore increasing productivity and resulting in receiving customer loyalty and recognition. In conjunction with the marketing department this is a main objective and should be referred to periodically.
E.U AND R.O.W (Rest of World) sales
This department will be the most crucial to an organisation in meeting their core objectives as increased sales means increased profits which then can be invested back into the company.
Kenwood sales team objective:
‘Our intentions are to supply each individual client on whatever item they require’.
This is not a realistic goal or time bound however if it is taken into account by the whole sales team then they will have created a product that is in high demand and in time create a product that is inelastic.
The sales department will have to maintain a reasonable profit otherwise it will not be able to fulfil its social responsibilities, and as profit is the best way to measure how good the business is and how well-run and effectively it meets its responsibilities to all its stakeholders this will be able to determine their successiveness.
R & D (Research & Development)
The main purpose of this department is to ensure that the organisation maintains a competitive advantage over competitors; this will be achieved by staying one step ahead of the competitor through market research and product development.
This department will:
- Further the organisations business objectives by creating better products;
- Improve operational processes
- Help the rest of the business and its customers
As Kenwood want to carry on serving the needs of peoples changing lifestyles they will research the fast growing developing home appliance markets so they can suit customer wants, needs and requirements. This is why R&D is essential in the participation of meeting their core objectives.
Administration
The Administration department will fall under the staff employee category as they deal generally with maintenance and paperwork. The Administration department will ensure that the communication channels within the business are functioning properly; these will include phones, mailing systems, computer hardware and other data processing facilities furthermore will provide statistics for the board of directors about the effectiveness of the existing office practice. This is essential in a company as the admin department can solve problems which can cause chaos in a company, for example departments need to communicate to share ideas, information and improvements if this could not be done then a product could be a failure when entering a new market.
Communication channels within Kenwood
Effective communication requires not only development of the basic skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing, but also awareness and an understanding of the subject, the audience and the environment.
For the communication process to be successful not only must information be transmitted but it must be received by and understood, this is where reading and writing skills are just as important as speaking and listening skills.
The message will go through a chain of command which is shown below:
When sending message communication problems can occur and this is known as noise which is shown above, these will lead to the message not being sent adequately.
Problems may include:
- Situations where the language is not properly understood, this will be if the language is too technical or it comes from a different ethnic background.
- The use of poor channel of communication. The effect if communication will be hampered if the means of passing is poor.
- The message is badly set out.
- The competing environment. Background activities or interference from other activities in the working place may interfere with the message.
- Too many steps in the message or if it is too complicated it may not be understood.
When a sender encodes the message they will put it into a format that the receiver will be able to understand. This can be expressed with words or images and will have a purpose, and due to the messages purpose it will depend on the process. If a message is important then it will be sent quickly whereas just a sociable message to a friend will not need sending as quick. When encoding a message the sender may wish it to be personal and therefore will make it confidential by scrambling or sending as an attachment with a password.
Decoding will be done by the receiver and the interpretation process of the message will depend on:
- The relationship with the sender and receiver. (personal / business)
- The type and nature of the message
- The style and tone of the language
- How well the message has been encoded.
Some messages can be recognised immediately but others will have to be decoded so they are understood.
The method used is referred to as the medium of the message. There are various ways of this such as impersonal, personal, and personal electronic (telephones, E-mail and videoconferencing) and face-to-face (this will be used in important and confidential situations).
Feedback is the response/ reaction; these may either be verbal while other requires a written answer. Feedback will indicate how the message has been interpreted and whether it has been understood.
Communication in an organisation especially Kenwood can flow in various directions, these are either up, down and horizontally between departments in the hierarchical. Up and down communication will be between managers to supervisors or reversed. However this method can be slow if there are numerous managers and chief executives in a company and messages can become misinterpreted.
Kenwood mainly use electronic types of communication as this is quicker and a lot more formal, however they will still use face-to-face communication as all of there offices are open planned. They mainly choose this type of communication as they have to send and receive information quickly to confirm that objectives are met. Even though Kenwood solely rely on this from of communication it does however come with complications such as:
- Files can become corrupt in the process of sending it between the hierarchical.
- Also it can be used in other manners resulting in employee misuse.
- Wording may be incorrect or hard to understand.
- Viruses can be sent via E-mail.
Benefits of this method of communication:
- It is sent quickly.
- Cannot be damaged like mail.
- Personal information is secure.
- Cheaper.
However many benefits this method may have Kenwood will still refer to other types of communication as it may be appropriate for that particular situation.
Communication will play a vital role in achieving objectives as it will ensure that product development works throughout the whole company to attain customer satisfaction.
Nevertheless not all forms of communication can be advantageous to the organisations as it can take time to develop and employee’s knowledge of it can cause limitations.
