Misunderstanding Foreign Customers' Order As A New Staff at Toma Technical Supply.
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Universitas Kristen Maranatha
ABSTRACT
Dalam penulisan tugas akhir ini, saya membahas mengenai bagaimana menghindari kesalahpahaman dalam menangani pesanan pelanggan terutama pelanggan asing sebagai wakil sekretaris perusahaan yang baru. Selama menjalani masa magang di TOMA Technical Supply, saya bekerja mendampingi sekretaris perusahaan dalam menyelesaikan pekerjaannya seperti mengirim dan membalas e-mail dari pelanggan domestik maupun asing, menerima telepon dari para pelanggan, dan juga melakukan penawaran produk kepada pelanggan. Oleh karena itu, kemampuan dalam berkomunikasi harus dimiliki dengan baik.
Sebagai staff baru di perusahaan ini, tentu saja saya menghadapi beberapa masalah seperti kurangnya pengetahuan saya mengenai produk yang akan dijual (nama produknya, fungsinya, dan kapasitasnya), dan seringnya saya kehilangan konsentrasi terutama ketika saya harus melakukan dua hal dalam waktu yang bersamaan.
Berdasarkan hasil analisa yang telah saya lakukan, saya memilih penggabungan dari tiga solusi yang saya yakini dapat menyelesaikan permasalahan yang saya angkat yaitu yang pertama, saya harus lebih memperluas pengetahuan saya mengenai produk-produk perusahaan, yang kedua, saya harus meningkatkan konsentrasi terhadap ucapan lawan bicara, yang ketiga, saya harus berani untuk menanyakan kembali kepada pelanggan yang bersangkutan bila ada pembicaraan yang terlewat ataupun tidak jelas. Dengan ketiga solusi tersebut, saya sangat yakin bahwa kesalahpahaman dalam menangani pesanan pelanggan terutama pelanggan asing yang menggunakan Bahasa Inggris dapat terhindari.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT……….……....i
DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY………ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……….………..iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS………..iv CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION………1-5
A. Background of the Study B. Identification of the Problem
C. Objectives and Benefits of the Study D. Description of the Institution
E. Method of the Study F. Limitation of the Study
G. Organization of the Term Paper
CHAPTER II : PROBLEM ANALYSIS………6-8 CHAPTER III : POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS………9-12 CHAPTER IV : CONCLUSION……….13-14 BIBLIOGRAPHY
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
The rapid growth of technology causes competition in various sectors. One of the sectors in which the competition is very tight in the recent years is the economic sector. It is proved by the number of companies which exist and also the business people who compete with one another to get the market segment and give the best for the customers.
One of the most rapid growing companies in Indonesia is the confection industries which produces many kinds of clothes. The success of those confection industries in surviving and developing cannot be separated from the role of the supporting companies. One of the supporting companies for confection is a company which provides tools for printing the picture on the clothes or it can be called screening tools provider. TOMA Technical Supply is one of the screening tools provider company in Bandung, which produce all cloth screening needs from the screening machine to the other screening supporting tools. The marketing reaches inside and outside countries. Therefore, the language capability of the staff especially those who have connection with the marketing
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can avoid misunderstanding and mistakes in handling customer’s order. That is why good language capability is very important to avoid
misunderstanding.
Based on my apprenticeship program in TOMA Technical Supply, I have an experience in assisting the Purchasing Manager and the company’s secretary. My language capability is tested a lot especially when I assisted the Company Secretary because her duty includes dealing with customers. My main tasks as her assistant are to send and reply e-mails from the domestic and foreign customers and pick–up the calls from the customers. I must handle not only domestic customers, but also foreign ones. That is why I should have good English language capability. Based on my experience in handling the foreign customers, I choose to discuss how to avoid misunderstanding foreign customer’s order. As a new person in this job, I often found difficulties and make mistakes when catching the words of the foreign customer’s order. One of the factors that cause the misunderstanding is because of the limitation of my English language skills. In this term paper I will discuss the problem and give the best solution to the problem.
B. Identification of the Problem
Based on my experience during my apprenticeship program as
Purchasing Manager assistant and company’s secretary assistant at TOMA Technical Supply, I propose to analyze:
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1. What are the causes and effects of misunderstanding foreign customer’s order?
2. What are the potential solutions to deal with misunderstanding of foreign customer’s order?
3. What is the best solution to solve the problem of misunderstanding foreign customer’s order?
C. Objectives and Benefits of the Study
The objectives of the study are defined as follow:
1. To analyze the causes and effects of misunderstanding foreign customer’s order.
2. To find out some possible solutions to deal with misunderstanding of foreign customer’s order.
3. To get the best solution of this problem. The benefits of the study:
a. For the company:I hope this term paper can make the staff of TOMA Technical Supply especially the staff who deal with marketing get some input about how to understand customer’s order especially from foreign customers. Therefore, there will not be any more mistakes happening when receiving the order and delivering the order.
b. For the readers:I hope this study can make the readers realize the importance of having good language capability especially English and have motivation to learn more about the language because nowadays,
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English becomes a global language and it is very important in every aspect, especially in business world.
c. For myself:By writing this term paper, I can share my experience to the readers and I can also understand more about the work situation in the company and it becomes my provision when I must work later. D. Description of the Institution
TOMA Technical Supply was established in 1995 and was located at Jalan Raya Cimindi no.192. At first, this company was a home industry which only produced manual screening tools with the conventional production techniques. But slowly, this company grew and reached its success in 2001 by increasing the number of products through the
machine technology and also expanded the market area by exporting the products to many countries. The main product of TOMA Technical Supply is all kinds of cloth screening machine, either manual or automatic.
Besides, TOMA Technical Supply also produces all screening supporting material such as the tint, the screen, the table, and so on.
TOMA Technical Supply has experienced many progresses from the beginning until now. Now, the company does not only sell its product domestically, but also to other countries such as Cambodia, Singapore, and Malaysia.
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For my term paper, I collect the data from my work apprenticeship which show my experience and observation which I already did from 14th July 2008 until 21st August 2008. I recorded all the data in my
apprenticeship journal. I also obtained the theories from some books which I found in Maranatha Christian University library.
F. Limitation of the Study
My term paper will only deal with how to avoid misunderstanding foreign customer’s order when I became an assistant of the Company Secretary. The study will discuss the problem that I found during my apprenticeship program and also the solutions to the problem. G. Organization of the Term Paper
This term paper starts with the Abstract, a summary of the whole paper in Indonesian. It is followed by the Acknowledgement, which contains the list of people who have the role in making this paper. After that, there is a Table of Contents which is followed by four chapters: Chapter I is the Introduction, chapter II contains of the Problem Analysis, chapter III deals with Potential Solutions, chapter IV is the Conclusion. For the last part of my paper, I put the Bibliography containing the list of references.
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CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, I would like to present the best solution to avoid
misunderstanding foreign customers’ order as a new company’s secretary assistant at TOMA Technical Supply. Based on the analysis of the potential solutions that I discuss in the third chapter, I decide to choose the combination of those three potential solutions.
The first solution is I should learn more about my job and also the products specification of my company. It means that I must understand my job
description clearly and know deeply about the products that the company produce. Therefore, I will do my job better and if there is a customer who asks about the products of our company, I will be able to explain each product to the customer as clearly as possible. The second solution is that I should be an effective listener. It means that I must increase my concentration, especially when listening, and also always focus on what is being said. Therefore, my job will be better without any mistakes. The third solution is I must be brave to recheck and review something which is not yet clear. It means that if someday there are some words of the customer which are not clear, I must be brave to ask the customer back the words which are not clear and also ask
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the customer to be more precise. This solution can also minimize the chance of making mistakes.
The combination of those three solutions is useful to avoid mistakes especially, misunderstanding foreign customers’ order because those three solutions are supporting one another. If I only learn more about my job and the products specification without concentration, it will useless because the
learning process need concentration. If I only increase my concentration without knowing my job and the products specification, it will also useless. The braveness to recheck something unclear is also important to avoid
misunderstanding. I am sure that the combination of those three solutions is very effective to avoid misunderstanding. Therefore, I am sure that the
combination of those three solutions can help me to improve my job quality as a new company secretary assistant at TOMA Technical Supply.
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Universitas Kristen Maranatha
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Printed Sources:
Bovee, Courtland L. and John V. Thill. Komunikasi Bisnis 1. Jakarta: PT.Indeks Kelompok Gramedia, 2003.
Taylor, Shirley. Communication for Business. England: Longman, 1999.
Electronic Sources:
Bragg, Terry. “Prevent Misunderstandings.” Terrybragg.com. 5 November 2008. < http://www.terrybragg.com/Article_Misunderstandings.htm> Burgess, Heidi. “Misunderstandings.”. Beyondintractability.org. September 2003. 5 November 2008.
<http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/misunderstandings> Cohen, Phil. “Getting the Order Right.” Hci.com. 5 November 2008. < http://www.hci.com.au/hcisite2/articles/gettingthe.htm ->
Conner, Jay. “Know Your Product Before You Sell it.”. Jconners.com. 2005. 25 October 2008.
< http://www.jconners.com/articles/knowyourproduct.html>
“Cross-Cultural/International Communication – Ethnocentrism, Factors”. Referenceforbusiness. Com.2007. 30 October 2008.
< Communication... ->
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Universitas Kristen Maranatha
Dumont, Theron Q. “The Power of Concentration.” Worldspirituality.org.25 October 2008.<
http://www.worldspirituality.org/power-of-concentration.html>
“How to Reduce Communication Errors.”. Ehow.com. 2008. 5 November 2008. <http://www.ehow.com/how 2121110 errors.html>
Rangkuti, Freddy. “Customer Satisfaction Measurement.” Binus.ac.id. 2003. 17 December 2008. < http://www.binus.ac.id/QMC/articles08.html -> Zaslove, Marshall O. “Focus.” Nari-assn.com. 25 October 2008.
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English becomes a global language and it is very important in every aspect, especially in business world.
c. For myself:By writing this term paper, I can share my experience to the readers and I can also understand more about the work situation in the company and it becomes my provision when I must work later.
D. Description of the Institution
TOMA Technical Supply was established in 1995 and was located at Jalan Raya Cimindi no.192. At first, this company was a home industry which only produced manual screening tools with the conventional production techniques. But slowly, this company grew and reached its success in 2001 by increasing the number of products through the
machine technology and also expanded the market area by exporting the products to many countries. The main product of TOMA Technical Supply is all kinds of cloth screening machine, either manual or automatic.
Besides, TOMA Technical Supply also produces all screening supporting material such as the tint, the screen, the table, and so on.
TOMA Technical Supply has experienced many progresses from the beginning until now. Now, the company does not only sell its product domestically, but also to other countries such as Cambodia, Singapore,
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For my term paper, I collect the data from my work apprenticeship which show my experience and observation which I already did from 14th July 2008 until 21st August 2008. I recorded all the data in my
apprenticeship journal. I also obtained the theories from some books which I found in Maranatha Christian University library.
F. Limitation of the Study
My term paper will only deal with how to avoid misunderstanding foreign customer’s order when I became an assistant of the Company Secretary. The study will discuss the problem that I found during my apprenticeship program and also the solutions to the problem.
G. Organization of the Term Paper
This term paper starts with the Abstract, a summary of the whole paper in Indonesian. It is followed by the Acknowledgement, which contains the list of people who have the role in making this paper. After that, there is a Table of Contents which is followed by four chapters: Chapter I is the Introduction, chapter II contains of the Problem Analysis, chapter III deals with Potential Solutions, chapter IV is the Conclusion. For the last part of my paper, I put the Bibliography containing the list of references.
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CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, I would like to present the best solution to avoid
misunderstanding foreign customers’ order as a new company’s secretary assistant at TOMA Technical Supply. Based on the analysis of the potential solutions that I discuss in the third chapter, I decide to choose the combination of those three potential solutions.
The first solution is I should learn more about my job and also the products specification of my company. It means that I must understand my job
description clearly and know deeply about the products that the company produce. Therefore, I will do my job better and if there is a customer who asks about the products of our company, I will be able to explain each product to the customer as clearly as possible. The second solution is that I should be an effective listener. It means that I must increase my concentration, especially when listening, and also always focus on what is being said. Therefore, my job
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the customer to be more precise. This solution can also minimize the chance of making mistakes.
The combination of those three solutions is useful to avoid mistakes especially, misunderstanding foreign customers’ order because those three solutions are supporting one another. If I only learn more about my job and the products specification without concentration, it will useless because the
learning process need concentration. If I only increase my concentration without knowing my job and the products specification, it will also useless. The braveness to recheck something unclear is also important to avoid
misunderstanding. I am sure that the combination of those three solutions is very effective to avoid misunderstanding. Therefore, I am sure that the
combination of those three solutions can help me to improve my job quality as a new company secretary assistant at TOMA Technical Supply.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Printed Sources:
Bovee, Courtland L. and John V. Thill. Komunikasi Bisnis 1. Jakarta: PT.Indeks Kelompok Gramedia, 2003.
Taylor, Shirley. Communication for Business. England: Longman, 1999.
Electronic Sources:
Bragg, Terry. “Prevent Misunderstandings.” Terrybragg.com. 5 November 2008. < http://www.terrybragg.com/Article_Misunderstandings.htm> Burgess, Heidi. “Misunderstandings.”. Beyondintractability.org. September 2003. 5 November 2008.
<http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/misunderstandings> Cohen, Phil. “Getting the Order Right.” Hci.com. 5 November 2008. < http://www.hci.com.au/hcisite2/articles/gettingthe.htm ->
Conner, Jay. “Know Your Product Before You Sell it.”. Jconners.com. 2005. 25 October 2008.
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Dumont, Theron Q. “The Power of Concentration.” Worldspirituality.org.25 October 2008.<
http://www.worldspirituality.org/power-of-concentration.html>
“How to Reduce Communication Errors.”. Ehow.com. 2008. 5 November 2008. <http://www.ehow.com/how 2121110 errors.html>
Rangkuti, Freddy. “Customer Satisfaction Measurement.” Binus.ac.id. 2003. 17 December 2008. < http://www.binus.ac.id/QMC/articles08.html -> Zaslove, Marshall O. “Focus.” Nari-assn.com. 25 October 2008.