Functional Areas of Business

Functional Areas of Business Paper

Stephanie Pomier

MGT/521

April 20, 2015

Prof. Mary Jo Payne

Functional Areas of Business Paper

“A manager is someone who coordinates and oversees the work of other people so that organizational goals can be accomplished”. (Robbins & Coulter, 2012, pp. 5-10).

There are different level managers, such as first line managers, which oversee the work of nonmanagerial employees. The first-line managers are at the lowest level of management. First-line managers are often times called supervisors, office managers, or department managers. The next level is middle managers; these are called district managers, general managers, or project leaders. They oversee the work of lower level managers. The last level is top manager, these manager are at or near the upper levels of the organizations structure. “They are responsible for making organization-wide decision and establishing the goals and plans that affect the entire organization”. (Robbins & Coulter, 2012, pp. 5-10). These managers hold the title of executive vice president, president, or chief operating officer. No matter the level of the manager, their goal is the same, to achieve the organization’s stated purpose.

In order for a manager to achieve an organizations purpose they must perform four main functions; planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. When planning managers set goals, form strategies to achieve the goals, and create plans to combine and coordinate activities. When determining the tasks that need to be done, delegating who is going to do them, how they are to be grouped, the decisions to be made and who reports to whom. This is called organizing; this creates a structure in the organization. Managers have to work with the employees to accomplish the organization’s goals; the way to achieve this is by leading. Motivating and influencing employees or teams, is a form of leading as well as having effective communication and resolving conflicts. The last function is controlling, this means that managers must monitor that the work is being done. Performance must be compared to the set goals, and correcting must be done where it is needed.

In order for a business to be successful managers must work efficiently and effectively. This means that they must have great knowledge of each functional are of business. The functional areas of business are; business law, human resource management, leadership, accounting, finance, economics, research and statistics, operations management, marketing and strategic planning.

Business law is important for managers to understand because they need to know legal issues that can affect the organization. Understanding business law also helps manager’s stay in compliance with state, federal and international regulations and requirements. It is important for managers to have an understanding of human resource management, because they are responsible for hiring, training, and terminating employees and there is a proper way to do that. This is where business law and human resource management come together. By having an understanding of both, managers are able to effectively and efficiently handle situations when they arise.