The departments of a business Edexcel International GCSE Business revision
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In plain words
In a business of any size, the work is divided into departments, each responsible for one kind of job. They are called functional areas.
They depend on each other. Marketing cannot promise what production cannot make, and neither can spend what finance has not got.
4 things to know
- Human resources: planning the workforce, recruitment and selection, training, health and safety, pay and conditions, and handling discipline, dismissal and redundancy.
- Finance: paying wages, cash-flow forecasting, budgets, and keeping the accounts.
- Marketing: market research, product planning, pricing, promotion and advertising, packaging, distribution and customer service.
- Production (operations): making the product, designing new products, quality control and stock control.
Tips and tricks
- Work out the department from the task. Anything about people and their jobs is human resources. Anything about money coming in and going out is finance.
- Departments must share information. A sales promotion planned by marketing fails if production has not been told to make more.
It lands in your notebook with its questions as flashcards.
The departments of a business: 5 questions and answers
These are the quiz’s questions. Do the quiz first, then come back here for the ones that got you.
Which department is responsible for recruiting new employees?
Recruitment and selection belong to human resources.
Which task belongs to the finance department?
Finance looks after money and the accounts.
Which department carries out quality control?
It checks the goods it makes.
Setting the price of a new product is mainly a task for
Price is one element of the marketing mix.
What might happen if marketing runs a big promotion without telling production?
Departments must coordinate, or customers are let down.
Quiz
5 questions
Tap an answer and you’ll see straight away whether it’s right, and why.
Worksheet
3 questions, 7 marks. Write your answers on paper, then check them.
The departments of a business
Edexcel International GCSE Business 4BS1 · 7 marks · papermunch.org
Name ______________________________ Date ______________
State two tasks carried out by the human resources department.[2]
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Any two of: recruitment and selection, training, health and safety, workforce planning, dealing with dismissal and redundancy.
State which functional area is responsible for market research and which for stock control.[2]
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Marketing is responsible for market research. Production is responsible for stock control.
Explain why the marketing and production departments need to communicate with each other.[3]
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Marketing knows what customers want and how much is likely to be sold. Production needs that information to make the right products in the right quantities, or the business will have too much stock or too little.
Answers: The departments of a business
- 1. Any two of: recruitment and selection, training, health and safety, workforce planning, dealing with dismissal and redundancy.
- 2. Marketing is responsible for market research. Production is responsible for stock control.
- 3. Marketing knows what customers want and how much is likely to be sold. Production needs that information to make the right products in the right quantities, or the business will have too much stock or too little.