ICT

o   Departmental support in HR, Finance, IT support and general running of an organisation.

o   Directs and oversees an organisation’s financial activities.

o   Manage general activities related to making products and providing services.

o   Innovate by applying new technologies in the workplace.  

o   Reports to be corporate board of directors.

o   Consult with other executives about operations.

o   Negotiate or approve contracts and agreements.

o   Appoint department heads and managers.

o   Analyse financial statements, sales reports and other performance indicators

o   Identify places to cut costs and to improve performance policies and programs. 

Production is the functional area responsible for turning inputs into finished outputs through a series of production processes.

Production Manager- Involves with planning, coordination and control of manufacturing processes. They ensure that goods and services are produced efficiently and that the correct amount is produced at the right cost and level of quality.

Typical Work Activities:

Overseeing the production process, drawing up a production schedule

Ensuring that the production is cost effective

Making sure that the products are produced on time and are of good quality

Working out the human and material resources needed

Monitoring the production processes and adjusting schedules as needed

Reviewing worker performance

Working with managers to implement the company’s policies and goals.

Production managers are also involved with product design and purchasing.

In a small firm you may have to make many of the decisions yourself, but in a larger organisation planners, controllers, production engineers and production supervisors will assist you.

Design

A designers job may involve managing more than one design brief at a time and allocating the relavent amount of time according to the value of the job.

Meeting clients or account managers to discuss the business objective and requirments of the job

Analysing the client’s business needs and developing a concept to suit their purpose

o   It is used to refer to the department of a company that is responsible for managing those resources, such as hiring and training new training employees and overseeing the benefits and compensation packages provided to all the company’s employees.

o   Process of recruiting suitable candidates for the organisation.

o   Identifying and meeting the training needs of existing staff.

o   Ensuring employee welfare and employee relations are positive.

o   Ensure working environment is safe for employees.

o   Raising awareness of current workplace legislations. 

o   Action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.

o   Marketing and advertising design adverts.

o   Buy advertising spaces so they can display adverts.

o   Design flyers and distribute them.

o   Organise trade stands to advertise at careers fairs

o   Do web based advertising

o   Do websites

o   Market research and direct marketing.

o   They design adverts to be shown to the general public

o   Do intense market research (depending on size of company)

o   Adverts can be on billboards, TV’s, bus stops or anywhere else for advertising.

o   They need space for their adverts for example space on the TV, billboards, bus stops and other places.

o   Do this so new people can discover company

o   They design flyers so people can pick them up and read them

o   The hand them out in busy places in town for example

o   Leave them in local places for others to pick up.

o   They do trade stands to market their product or service

o   They do it at career fairs so people feel inclined to join their team. 

Plan for future sales, monitoring the relationship the organisation has with its customers (including potential customers)

·         Advertise products and services

o   Designing adverts and buying advertising space

o   Designing flyers and distribution them

o   Organising trade stands

o   Web- based advertising

·         Organisation website

·         Market research

·         Direct marketing

Carries out all the tasks relating to money coming in and going out of an organisation.

o   Includes recording payments received for goods and services.

o   Banking payments made by cash or cheque.

o   Arrange payment to suppliers for stock, utilities. Rent, loan payments.

o   BAC transfers- payment of staff.

o   Record of transaction for:

ü  Inland Revenue (Tax form both company and employee)

ü  VAT for customs and excise.

Communicates with:

Externally- Shareholders and banks need financial records.

Internally- Most other functions e.g. Sales and Marketing and HR. 

Ordering of and payment for goods and services from suppliers.

ü  Raise purchase orders

ü  Deals with suppliers invoices.

·        Purchase Order-

Documents that list the goods or services an organisation want to purchase from a supplier- usually a two part document:

ü  Top copy sent to supplier

ü  Second copy retained as a record of order.

·        Sales order processing:

The administration of an organisation of an organisation’s financial dealing with customer.

Ø  Organise contracts for services.

Ø  Receive sales orders.

Ø  Create and send invoices.

Ø  Receive and process customer payments. 

Selling the organisations products or services to its customers.

ü  Tasks SALES perform will depending on the nature of the organisation.

ü  Communicate closely with Marketing and Accounts.

Ø  Helps customers find products

Ø  Takes payment

Ø  Wrap purchases

Ø  Display goods

Newspaper-

o   Selling advertising space using telesales.

o   Record customer detail.

o   Take payment details or charge accounts.

Ø Telesales:

Selling goods or services by taking orders over the telephone. It can also involve calling potential customers to try to get them to buy the product or service.

Kitchen Design Company:

Ø  May visit customers home

Ø  Measure and design kitchen

Ø  Discuss requirements

Ø  Produce quotation

Ø  Creates an order

Quotation- Details of what product or service will cost. 

Find in organisations that make or sell goods. Not generally found in organisations that provide a service.

Responsible for moving goods from the factory, farm or warehouse on to shops, warehouses or directly to customers.

o   Addressing packages

o   Arranging collection and delivery

o   Manage a fleet of vans, Lorries to deliver.

·        Distribution (logistics):

The right goods get to the right place at the right time.

Communicate with Production and Sales.

·        Waybill-

A multi- part form that is attached to a package for courier delivery. It includes details of who is sending and who is receiving the package with a unique number (often with a barcode) that allows the package to be tracked. 

•Investigative activities that a business chooses to conduct with the intention of making a discovery that can either lead to the development of new products or procedures, or to improvement of existing products or procedures. Research and development is one of the means by which business can experience future growth by developing new products or processes to improve and expand their operations.

•Companies succeed by creating innovative products, as well as by increasing company profit and utilizing cost-efficient methods. A research and development department is primarily responsible for ensuring that these goals are met. This is an especially important function in the fields of manufacturing and pharmaceuticals, but can be applied to virtually any industry.

•Often, research and development works closely with the marketing department. Marketing studies consumer trends by surveying and researching consumer demands, purchasing methods, product sales, and the existence and development of technology across the relevant market. The marketing department gathers all the data, and makes this information available to the R&D department, which will take action in response to the findings and proceed to keep the company on top of current market needs. 

•Consumer demands often change very quickly, and the research and development department must be alert and adapt to these market fluctuations accordingly. Companies often allocate millions of dollars to research and development so that they can continually modify and update their products to preserve a brand's position within the market.

•An R&D department may also be tasked with ensuring that products are manufactured within an appropriate time frame, and that they meet specific quality and cost requirements. For example, a particular ingredient or component of a product suddenly may become too expensive or outdated, and the department will need to explore other means to replace the missing pieces. Therefore, R&D departments often maintain close ties with engineers, chemists, and other product specialists.

•Research and development departments will provide advancements in products that range from simple updates of features to dramatic discoveries of new cures for diseases, depending on the field and the company's needs. The aim, in most cases, is to ensure that each product meets all regulations, legal requirements, and the highest standards in quality control. Research and development works in conjunctions with other departments to achieve these aims.