HND Computing
Sampled for Internal Verification
HE ASSIGNMENT FRONT SHEET
Assignment one- Business Information Needs
To be able to compare and contrast the different functional areas of the organisation I have researched functional areas of an organisation. The following seven areas appear to be identified as the main functional areas i.e
Research and Development
Human Resources
Finance
Customer Service
ICT
Operations
Marketing
To compare and contrast the different functional areas I have first looked at the responsibilities of each of the functional areas.
Research and Development- The main task of this functional area is to develop new goods or services and update old or current goods or services. Their main tasks include technological development, scientific research and performance testing on all goods and services that the company provides. They are linked with the finance department for the money side of things, HR to make sure they are covered by health and safety regulations and ICT as a lot of their information is stored, sent and received digitally,.
Human Resources- This is usually a very large functional area within a business with so many tasks. This section of the business would be in charge of the health and safety of all staff and visitors and are required to provide sufficient working conditions. Human resources are responsible for recruitment, training, development and promotion. This functional area is linked to many others, ICT for example is heavily involved in the workings of human resources. Most of the information will be sent and stored digitally. In HR most of the communication between the departments is done via email meaning a ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
Human Resources- This is usually a very large functional area within a business with so many tasks. This section of the business would be in charge of the health and safety of all staff and visitors and are required to provide sufficient working conditions. Human resources are responsible for recruitment, training, development and promotion. This functional area is linked to many others, ICT for example is heavily involved in the workings of human resources. Most of the information will be sent and stored digitally. In HR most of the communication between the departments is done via email meaning a stronger link with the ICT department. There is also a strong link between this and the operations department. In operations there is a heavy involvement with people, equipment and materials so it is important that HR monitor and control health and safety and provide safe working conditions.
Finance- The finance functional area is responsible for all the money coming in and going out. They task is to prepare all the accounts and are also responsible for paying wages and salaries. There is a strong link to a lot of the other departments as the finance functional area is responsible for money. They have control of the research and development departments’ money allowance. This may control the depth of research available depending on the funds available so a heavy link is usually present.
Customer Service- This functional area is solely responsible for ensuring a happy customer. Their job is to try to resolve any customer issues by building a strong relationship with the customer. They will provide information, give advice, deliver the offered goods or service and provide the customer with after sales service giving the customer peace of mind.
ICT- Under this functional area administration is usually covered. Some of their responsibilities include security, software support, communications between departments and electronic translations. The administration side will also cover cleaning and maintenance. A lot of the digital records will be stored in this department. In some respects this can be the core department to the running of a business. The use of ICT creates a stronger link between a lot of the other functional areas as communications become a lot stronger and easier, most documents these days are stored in a digital format. All of the other functional areas have some involvement with ICT.
Operations- The operations department are involved with the running to the business’s main activities. They mainly deal with equipment, people and materials. This is where materials and converted into goods or services.
Marketing- This functional area is in charge of marketing, promotions and sales. This department will have a very strong bond with the ICT and the financial functional areas. With a lot of money going into advertisement and a lot of it being produced on PC’s there would be a lot of involvement and interaction between these different departments.
Conclusion- Every business is different in that no two or more functional areas will be the same. Many things will condition each area, these include the size of the business, the activities involved, the target customers and the customer needs.
To analyse and explain the information needs within each functional area I reviewed the attached case study and broke down some of the information into the following functional areas. I then analysed the functional area as a whole.
Research and development- BT used to have total monopoly of the market so the research and development area didn’t need to be too elaborate because there was little or no competition. Now with heavy competition from cable and other telephone operators, BT have been forced to research and develop their service in order to keep their customers. So the input of the competition from other companies has caused the output of adaptation to the market. To remain in business BT have had to concentrate more on the research and development functional area so they can stay on top of the competition and offer a better service at a cheaper price. The only way they can do this is by developing what they already have to be more suitable to the customers needs. For example clearer phone lines and faster connections.
Human resources- Previously there had been a hierarchical system of management but following privatisation they wanted to flatten the system to enable better liaison between management and the workforce. They halved the total number of managers. The input was to direct their concentration towards meeting customer needs. The output was to enable better knowledge of the range of jobs within BT. This process led to staff having a broader range of skills and knowledge about the workings of the company which meant a breakdown of the hierarchy giving better efficiency and better customer service.
Finance- Dues to the fact that it is no longer a monopoly and that there is increased competition BT are loosing many customers. In addition to this OFTEL are now regulating prices for BT’s services. The input to this functional area is the restrictions from OFTEL and the size of the competition and the prices they are charging. The output is a regulated service price that is stable to the needs of the business without breaching the regulations. In terms of processing the finance functional area is responsible for all the money coming in and going out, it is their soul responsibility to secure the finances for future development and sustainability.
Customer service- With the increased competition the best way to keep and be more inviting to new customers BT found was to improve their customer service. This links up with the change to the management structure. The input to this functional area is the competition. In a competetive business one of the most important things is to be better than the competition, the output led to BT flattening the structure of the management so staff could be better trained and more supervised.
ICT- Development of new technology completely changed the working of BT and there was a need to break into international markets for information technology. The work force changed a lot as technology was enhanced. The main input into this functional area is the demand from all the other functional areas. Competition from other companies causes the need for the best technology. The output of this is a change to how telecommunications work, BT could now exploit new international markets for IT.
Operations- To keep up with the growing market it was important that BT could provide their service in the most effective and efficient way by making the most of the staff and resources. Before a lot of staff would have had very limited access to the systems information due to passwords and access codes. Because of the improvements in technology it was now possible to share information between districts, this led to much more efficient production.
The level of the management can be essential to the running of the business and can dictate how each of the departments runs and works. There are three main levels of management and I have listed them below.
Operational- This could be anything from the head of a small department with control of a few colleagues to an individual manager for the given functional area. In the operation level a manager will have some control over the day to day activities ensuring a practise to maximize effectiveness and efficiency within that department. The information needs would be passed down from a supervisor and this would act as a tool for the operational manager to complete the tasks from day to day. Overall in comparison the decision making authority would be fairly low.
Tactical- This could be anything from the head of a much larger department to a project manager. A tactical manager would have a lot more control than an operation manager with a lot more responsibilities like budgeting for example. The tactical managers would pass on information to the operational managers and may come up with policies and regulations. Information needs would be a lot higher with lots of visual feedback in the form of reports on budgets and other things.
Strategic- This is the highest level of management within a business, this would include chief executives and managing directors. Their work wouldn’t be day to day like an operational or tactical manager instead they will focus on the long term plans of the business. The information needs again will be very long term and they would need to look and reports and summaries over a period of time and come up with action plans.
References:
-., (Unknown publishing date and unknown last updated date) Functional areas within business [online] last accessed on 10 November 2008 at
URL:http://www.cbec.rutland.sch.uk/students/documents/Functionalareas.ppt#256,1,Functional areas within business.
-., (Unknown publishing date and unknown last updated date) Functional areas within the business [online] last accessed on 09 November 2008 at
Chris Kimble (Unknown), MIS Case Study Notes
Chris Kimble (Unknown), MIS Case Study Transcripts
