How To Handle Difficulties in Oral and Written Communication As A New Marketing Staff At P.T.Garuda Jaya Kencana.

ABSTRACT

Dalam penulisan Tugas Akhir ini, saya membahas tentang masalah dalam komunikasi lisan dan tulisan yang terjadi pada departemen

marketing. Selama menjalani magang di P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana, saya

bekerja pada bagian marketing dan bertugas menerima dan membalas

e-mail dari para pelanggan dalam bahasa Inggris. Selain itu, komunikasi

secara lisan biasa saya gunakan ketika saya harus melaporkan pesanan para pelanggan kepada marketing manager sebelum membalas e-mails maupun berkomunikasi dengan para staff menggunakan bahasa Indonesia. Terkadang saya mengalami kesulitan untuk membalas e-mail dari para pelanggan dikarenakan kurangnya kosa kata dalam bahasa Inggris dan pengetahuan tentang nama serta kode dari produk – produk perusahaan. Selain itu, kurangnya pengalaman kerja juga menjadi faktor yang menyebabkan pekerjaan tidak berjalan dengan baik. Jika saya tidak dapat membalas ataupun memberikan informasi yang jelas kepada pelanggan maupun para staff, maka dapat menyebabkan para pelanggan tidak puas dengan pelayanan perusahaan dan dapat menyebabkan kesalahpahaman sesama para staff di P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana. Hal ini berdampak negatif bagi perusahaan.

Oleh karena itu, pada tugas akhir ini saya akan memaparkan sebab – akibat permasalahan ini. Selain itu, saya juga akan memberikan beberapa solusi untuk mengatasi permasalahan tersebut serta dampak positif dan negatif yang mungkin dapat terjadi dari solusi tersebut.

Berdasarkan hasil analisa dan referensi dari berbagai sumber, saya memilih dua solusi yang terbaik, yaitu saya harus memahami pekerjaan sebagai seorang marketing dengan cara belajar dari staff lain. Selain itu, para karyawan harus berinisiatif untuk berkomunikasi dengan orang lain dan dapat meminta feedback dari supervisor tentang performa kerja. Berdasarkan pengamatan saya selama menjalani magang di P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana, saya yakin solusi ini dapat menyelesaikan masalah dan dapat diterapkan pada departemen marketing di P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT…..………..…………i

DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY…..………...ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………...……...iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS…..………..….iv

Chapter I: INTRODUCTION………...1-7 A. Background of the Study

B. I dentification of the Problem

C. Objectives and Benefits of the Study D. Description of the Institution

E. Limitations of the Study

F. Organization of the Term Paper

Chapter II: PROBLEM ANALYSIS………..8-12 Chapter III: POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS………..………....13-17 Chapter IV: CONCLUSION………...18-19

BIBLIOGRAPHY  

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the study

In the recent years, there are some aspects that grow rapidly, such as economy, education and technology. Due to fast growing economy, there are many companies that have been expanding into larger business; that is why, business is getting more competitive. In Indonesia, there are a lot of manufacture companies, particularly textile, furniture, carrosserie, and electronic assembling. Textile company is one of the manufacture companies that has been expanding in Indonesia. It is stated in Indonesian News Aggregator that “The world textile and textile product manufacturers saw around 1,200 textile and textile product manufacturers in the country as market potentials to do business in 2008” (par. 5). As a result, this situation can lead to more competitions in textile business. Besides, there are some local companies that expand their market to export in order to get higher profit. It is mentioned in The Jakarta Post that:

At present, there are many local textile companies focusing their export production on getting higher prices and choosing to market their products

overseas because their products are no longer able to compete in the domestic market with cheap and illegally imported products from countries (par. 8).

The above statement confirms that, there are many local textile companies that expand their business to export business.

As one of the textile export companies in Bandung, P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana has established good relations with foreign customers. Therefore, the employees need to have good communication skill both in oral or written aspects, because in export business, the marketing staff have to be able to promote, negotiate, sell the goods well and make the customers interested in the company’s products and satisfied with the company’s services. It is stated that

“Communication, meaning to share, to have in common, is essential to the success of all organizations. Customers will go elsewhere if they cannot get their orders filled correctly and quickly, or if they have to waste valuable time trying to decipher confusing or garbled messages.

(Dumont and Lannon 18)

So, the marketing staff has to give clear information and give the best service to make the customers satisfied.

In this case, communication is one of the important things for marketing staff to make good relations with the foreign customers and other coworkers in order to avoid misunderstanding and miscommunication between the sellers and customers. It is believed that “Communication is the transfer of

information from one person to another. It is a way of reaching others by transmitting ideas, facts, feelings and values. Its goal is to have the receiver understand the message as it was sent” (Dumont and Lannon 91). That is why, communication is very important in business to give the information to

other people.

Based on my apprenticeship program in Marketing Department of P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana, I find that English is used for communicating with the foreign customers through e-mailing, telephoning and making an invoice. Dealing with business correspondence through e-mailing is my main work at P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana. It means that I have to deal with written business communication. I think e-mailing is also important in business because, e-mail is a quick means of communication and has a wide networking. Accordingly, people can send or receive messages whenever and wherever they want. Besides written communication, I think oral communication with the coworkers is also important in this job, because I have to inform the customer’s order to the marketing manager and the other staff before I reply the customers’ e-mail.

Based on the above explanation, I choose to discuss how to handle the difficulties in oral and written communication as a new marketing staff at P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana. In terms of oral communication, I found it difficult to communicate with my supervisor and my coworkers as a new marketing staff about the customers’ order. In terms of written communication, I found it difficult to write e-mail in English for business correspondence. I believe that

in Marketing Department, I have to learn how to communicate well with the coworkers so that I can do the job well and avoid misunderstanding and miscommunication with the other staff at P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana. Meanwhile, it is also important to communicate with the customers by e-mailing for promoting, negotiating, and selling the goods. As a new marketing staff at P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana, I had the experience of writing e-mails to give information to the customers and to make them interested in the company’s products. It is mentioned by Dwyer that “A professional e-mail message should be courteous and confident. Writers using netiquette not only consider their own needs and writing purpose but also the receiver’s need to understand and take action” (319). So, it is important to make an e-mail readable to the customers. Besides, e-e-mailing can give clear information if the customers want to get more information about the company’s products. This topic can also make people realize that communication is the basis of any relationship, so that people can improve and develop their communication skills both in oral and written aspects.

B. Identification of the Problem

Based on my observation and experience during my apprenticeship program as a new marketing staff at P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana, I propose to analyze:

1. What are the causes and effects of having difficulties in oral and written communication as a new marketing staff at P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana?

2. What are the potential solutions to deal with the difficulties in oral and written communication as a new marketing staff at P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana?

3. What is the best solution to solve the problem of having difficulties in oral and written communication as a new marketing staff at P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana?

C. Objectives and Benefits of the Study Objectives of the study:

The objectives of the study are defined as follow:

1. To analyze the causes and effects of having difficulties in oral and written communication as a new marketing staff at P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana.

2. To find out some possible solutions to deal with the difficulties of oral and written communication as a new marketing staff at P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana.

3. To figure out the best solution based on the relevant context at P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana.

Benefits of the study:

a. For the company: I hope this term paper can make the owner and all the staff of P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana get some insight about communication in both oral or written in business context and improving the work performance.

b. For the readers: I hope this study can make the readers realize the importance of oral and written communication in Marketing Department of textile export business. It is my expectation that the readers will improve and develop their English communication skill, because communication is the basis of any relationship.

c. As for myself: In writing this term paper, I can get a lot of information to improve my knowledge and my working performance that is related to Marketing Department of export business at P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana.

D. Description of institution

P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana is one of the textile companies in Bandung. P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana was established in 1960 and it is located at Rajawali Timur Street, Halteu Selatan no. 318 Bandung. P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana has been growing into a textile import business rapidly since 1965. The owner of P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana always keeps the best quality of the products. Accordingly, P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana has many loyal customers who always order the company’s products. Since 2001, P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana has run their market to export business and it has been successful until now. The products of P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana are ladies dress (maxi slip, midi slip, skirt, and panties) and they are made of soft material with various colours such as blue, cream, brown, green, black and red.

P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana has achieved a lot of progress since they started the business. It can be seen from the marketing aspect, product

innovation, and expanding of the production that can compete with other textile export companies. Nowadays, P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana exports their products to some countries such as Dubai, Jeddah, Riyadh, Sudan and Marokko.

E. Limitation of the Study

My term paper will only deal with how to improve my working performance especially in oral and written communication at Marketing Department in P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana. The study will discuss the problems that I found during my apprenticeship program and also the solutions to the problems. The data are obtained from the library research and my apprenticeship journal.

F. Organization of the Term Paper

This term paper starts with the Abstract, a succinct of the whole paper in Indonesia. It is followed by the Acknowledgements, which contains the list of people who have the role in making this paper. After that, there is a Table of Contents, then the 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 will put the Bibliography containing the list of references that support this term paper.

   

CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION

In this chapter, I would like to present the best solution to deal with the difficulties in oral and written communication in as a new employee in the Marketing Department at P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana. Based on the relevant context, I decide to choose the second and the third solutions. The second solution is related to written communication. I need to understand the job description as a marketing staff. It means that I have to learn the names and the codes of the products and improve my writing skill in business correspondence particularly through e-mailing by learning from others. The third solution is related to oral communication. I have to take the initiative to communicate with others and ask for feedback on my working performance to

my supervisor.

I choose the second solution because, as a new employee who lacked of working experience, I can get some information from other employees so that I can improve my performance especially in writing skill.

   

Moreover, I need to have self-awareness to be successful by learning from each other, because it is important to make a good relationship with others and get much information about the work. Besides, taking initiative to communicate with other employees and ask for feedback can help me evaluate my working performance. Finally, these solutions are possible to be implemented at P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana. Based on my observation at P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana, the staff members are helpful and open-minded to share the information to the new employees. In addition, I can be willing to learn from each other by asking the staff who probably knows better than me. The combination of these two solutions is useful for solving the difficulties in oral and written communication so as to improve my working performance as a new marketing staff at P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana. In addition, the supervisor is committed to empower the employees to be professional employees for the company’s progress. That is why, the role of supervisor in giving feedback is also crucial to improve the employees’ skill and knowledge in the work place.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Printed Sources:

Bruce, Anne and James S. Pepiton. Motivating Employees. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1999.

Dumont, Raymond A., and John M. Lannon. Business Communication. Boston: Little Brown, 1985.

Dwyer, Judith. The Business Communication Handbook 6th edition. French Forest. NSW: Prentice Hall, 2003.

Gibson, and Donelly. Organizations. Singapore: Mc Graw Hill, 2006. Machfoedz, Mas’ud, and Mahmud Machfoedz. Komunikasi Bisnis Modern

untuk Mahasiswa dan Profesi. Yogyakarta: BPFE-Yogyakarta, 2005. Nelson, Bob. 1001 Ways to Take Initiative at Work. New York: Workman,

1999.

Newstrom, John W. Business Communication. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1991. Noe, Raymond A. Employee Training & Development second edition. New

York: McGraw-Hill, 2002.

Weisinger, Hendrie. Emotional Intelligence at Work. San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass, 1998.

Electronic Sources:

Banga, Ajay. “You have to be willing to Learn from each New Job and from New People.” Rediff.com. 2 September 2005. 15 May 2008.

http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/sep/02binter1.htm

Haswidi, Andi. “Textile Firms say Investment Needed to Push up Exports.”Jakarta Post 12 March 2007. 20 April 2008.

http://www.textilefirms.org/embassyofIndonesiaottawa.html

Pesuric, and Byham. “Emotional Intelligence.” Institute for Health and Human Potential 26 mei 2008. 20 May 2008

http://www.ihhp.com/what_is_eq.htm

“World Textile Machine Makers Eying Indonesian Market.” Plinplan.com. 2008. Indonesian News Aggregator. 30 March 2008. 20 April 2008. http://www.worldtextilemachinemakerseying/Indonesianmarket/plinplan. com.htm

b. For the readers: I hope this study can make the readers realize the importance of oral and written communication in Marketing Department of textile export business. It is my expectation that the readers will improve and develop their English communication skill, because communication is the basis of any relationship.

c. As for myself: In writing this term paper, I can get a lot of information to improve my knowledge and my working performance that is related to Marketing Department of export business at P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana.

D. Description of institution

P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana is one of the textile companies in Bandung. P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana was established in 1960 and it is located at Rajawali Timur Street, Halteu Selatan no. 318 Bandung. P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana has been growing into a textile import business rapidly since 1965. The owner of P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana always keeps the best quality of the products. Accordingly, P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana has many loyal customers who always order the company’s products. Since 2001, P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana has run their market to export business and it has been successful until now. The products of P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana are ladies dress (maxi slip, midi slip, skirt, and panties) and they are made of soft material with various colours such as blue, cream, brown, green, black and red.

innovation, and expanding of the production that can compete with other textile export companies. Nowadays, P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana exports their products to some countries such as Dubai, Jeddah, Riyadh, Sudan and Marokko.

E. Limitation of the Study

My term paper will only deal with how to improve my working performance especially in oral and written communication at Marketing Department in P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana. The study will discuss the problems that I found during my apprenticeship program and also the solutions to the problems. The data are obtained from the library research and my apprenticeship journal.

F. Organization of the Term Paper

This term paper starts with the Abstract, a succinct of the whole paper in Indonesia. It is followed by the Acknowledgements, which contains the list of people who have the role in making this paper. After that, there is a Table of Contents, then the 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 will put the Bibliography containing the list of references that support this term paper.

  7    _{Maranatha Christian University}

   

CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION

In this chapter, I would like to present the best solution to deal with the difficulties in oral and written communication in as a new employee in the Marketing Department at P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana. Based on the relevant context, I decide to choose the second and the third solutions. The second solution is related to written communication. I need to understand the job description as a marketing staff. It means that I have to learn the names and the codes of the products and improve my writing skill in business correspondence particularly through e-mailing by learning from others. The third solution is related to oral communication. I have to take the initiative to communicate with others and ask for feedback on my working performance to

my supervisor.

I choose the second solution because, as a new employee who lacked of working experience, I can get some information from other employees so that I can improve my performance especially in writing skill.

   

Moreover, I need to have self-awareness to be successful by learning from each other, because it is important to make a good relationship with others and get much information about the work. Besides, taking initiative to communicate with other employees and ask for feedback can help me evaluate my working performance. Finally, these solutions are possible to be implemented at P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana. Based on my observation at P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana, the staff members are helpful and open-minded to share the information to the new employees. In addition, I can be willing to learn from each other by asking the staff who probably knows better than me. The combination of these two solutions is useful for solving the difficulties in oral and written communication so as to improve my working performance as a new marketing staff at P.T. Garuda Jaya Kencana. In addition, the supervisor is committed to empower the employees to be professional employees for the company’s progress. That is why, the role of supervisor in giving feedback is also crucial to improve the employees’ skill and knowledge in the work place.

 

  19    _{Maranatha Christian University}

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Printed Sources:

Bruce, Anne and James S. Pepiton. Motivating Employees. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1999.

Dumont, Raymond A., and John M. Lannon. Business Communication. Boston: Little Brown, 1985.

Dwyer, Judith. The Business Communication Handbook 6th edition. French Forest. NSW: Prentice Hall, 2003.

Gibson, and Donelly. Organizations. Singapore: Mc Graw Hill, 2006. Machfoedz, Mas’ud, and Mahmud Machfoedz. Komunikasi Bisnis Modern

untuk Mahasiswa dan Profesi. Yogyakarta: BPFE-Yogyakarta, 2005. Nelson, Bob. 1001 Ways to Take Initiative at Work. New York: Workman,

1999.

Newstrom, John W. Business Communication. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1991. Noe, Raymond A. Employee Training & Development second edition. New

York: McGraw-Hill, 2002.

Weisinger, Hendrie. Emotional Intelligence at Work. San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass, 1998.

Electronic Sources:

Banga, Ajay. “You have to be willing to Learn from each New Job and from New People.” Rediff.com. 2 September 2005. 15 May 2008.

http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/sep/02binter1.htm

Haswidi, Andi. “Textile Firms say Investment Needed to Push up Exports.”Jakarta Post 12 March 2007. 20 April 2008.

http://www.textilefirms.org/embassyofIndonesiaottawa.html

Pesuric, and Byham. “Emotional Intelligence.” Institute for Health and Human Potential 26 mei 2008. 20 May 2008

http://www.ihhp.com/what_is_eq.htm

“World Textile Machine Makers Eying Indonesian Market.” Plinplan.com. 2008. Indonesian News Aggregator. 30 March 2008. 20 April 2008. http://www.worldtextilemachinemakerseying/Indonesianmarket/plinplan. com.htm