JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground
HTML
<table>
<tbody>
<tr class="finance" data-order="1">
<td>John Smith</td>
<td>Finance</td>
</tr>
<tr class="marketing" data-order="2">
<td>Jane Doe</td>
<td>Marketing</td>
</tr>
<tr class="maintenance" data-order="3">
<td>Gary Ryan</td>
<td>Maintenance</td>
</tr>
<tr class="dataEntry" data-order="4">
<td>Damon Watts</td>
<td>Data Entry</td>
</tr>
<tr class="dataEntry" data-order="5">
<td>Ben Young</td>
<td>Data Entry</td>
</tr>
<tr class="maintenance" data-order="6">
<td>Calvin Lewis</td>
<td>Maintenance</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
JavaScript
$("tbody tr").sort(function(a, b) {
var a_txt = $(a).find('td').eq(1).text(),
b_txt = $(b).find('td').eq(1).text();
return a_txt.localeCompare(b_txt);
}).appendTo('tbody');