Operational function

Operational functions are the organizational units in a company entrusted with a uniform and delimited task area and area of ​​responsibility , without which the company cannot fulfill its operational purpose and corporate goals.

General

Operational functions are tasks that focus on operational performance factors and are oriented towards the operational purpose and corporate goals. While the operational purpose pursues the objective (production or trade of or with certain goods / services), the corporate objectives are formal objectives aimed at making a profit . In order to achieve these goals, a company must take organizational precautions and designate the responsible body .

species

In the operational organizational structure , the tasks to be performed are summarized according to the performance principle, so that a breakdown according to functions arises. The specialist literature distinguishes between basic operational functions and cross-sectional or service functions .

Basic functions are areas of responsibility without which a company cannot function:

• The procurement deals with the purchase of raw materials , consumables and supplies (for manufacturing companies) and finished goods (in the trade).
• The production includes the creation of tangible and intangible goods and / or services .
• The sales (sales) is concerned with the sale of produced goods and / or services on the market.
• The financing covers all processes that relate to the monetary supply and control between capital raising and capital allocation.

The cross-sectional or service functions are directly related to the basic operational functions:

• The company management is entrusted with the management of the company , it is often assigned the tasks of organization and planning .
• The human resources engaged in the procurement, supervision and management of staff .
• The administration is entrusted with administrative activities .
• The information deals with information acquisition and information processing.
• The research and development has further the task of new products / services to invent and existing.
• The logistics should ensure an optimal confluence of material, value and information flows.

Funding is sometimes counted among the cross-sectional functions because it is argued that it serves the other basic functions.

costs

Each of these operational functions generates costs before and during the production process and afterwards, so that these can be divided into the following types of costs :

• Procurement: acquisition costs ,
• Production: manufacturing costs ,
• Distribution and logistics: distribution costs
• Financing: financing costs ,
• Company management and information: imputed entrepreneur wages with self-organization ,
• Human resources: personnel expenses ,
• Administration: administration costs and
• Research and development: research and development costs

See also

• Transport authority
• back office
• Professional function
• Strategic business unit
• Shared service center

Individual evidence

1. ↑ cf. Rolf Wunderer , System-Building Approaches in General Business Administration , 1967, p. 162
2. ↑ Hans-Christian Pfohl, Logistiksysteme , 1996, p. 43 f.
3. ^ Gert von Kortzfleisch / Jan Osers / Heinz Bergner, Betriebswirtschaftliche Unternehmensführung , 1975, p. 137
4. ↑ Hermann Witte, General Business Administration , 2007, p. 23