Functional Areas of a Typical Business

A healthy business works like a living being with functional areas taking care of different domains. These functional areas group skills and tasks to manage aspects of the business that have their own protocols and logic. Some basic functional areas such as marketing and finance are shared by just about all businesses. Others, such as legal support and information technology, become more essential as the company grows.

Human Resources Functional Area

Unless you own and operate a one-person business, your company will do some human resources work. Your human resources functional area may include dedicated staff to manage people and policies. Alternately, you may do your own hiring and firing, managing people as a close-knit group.

Whether your human resources systems are formally structured or informally done, you should strive for consistency and clarity when communicating company policies and objectives to your staff. You should also have ways of showing people that you value them for the sake of morale and goodwill.

Finance Functional Area

Businesses operate in the realm of money, and every company must have some way of managing its finances, understanding its cash flow, and strategizing and how to make the best use of monetary resources. The functional area of your business dedicated to finance can be the chunk of time you devote each week to bookkeeping, or it can be a dedicated department keeping books and managing accounts. Either way, it should be sufficient to stay current on accounting tasks such as collecting and paying bills.

Marketing Functional Area

Whatever the products and services your business provides for customers, it must have a functional area devoted to fostering demand and getting the word out about your offerings. You should also have protocols and staff dedicated to handling customer communications such as feedback and complaints. In a sense, marketing covers every aspect of your business that functions in tandem to create a customer experience. Your marketing department oversees this coordinated effort, making sure it proceeds with intention.

Production Functional Area

Whatever your business sells, you’ll need a functional department in charge of producing it. If you sell physical products, your production department will deal with manufacturing and quality. If you provide a service, there must still be an individual or a team providing oversight and ensuring consistency. The production department manages inventory, making sure there is enough on hand to fill orders.

Operations Functional Area

No matter how simple or complex your business, there needs to be a functional area that keeps things running smoothly. The operations department takes care of efficiency and processes, making sure that equipment works, staff are trained in production routines, and the phases of your manufacturing system sync and flow.