POLITENESS STRATEGIES OF BANK CUSTOMER
SERVICE OFFICERS AT BRI BANK
A Thesis
Submitted to the English Applied Linguistics Study Program in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Magister in Humaniora
By
RAHMA TIRTA Register Number: 8106111028
ENGLISH APPLIED LINGUISTICS STUDY PROGRAM POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL
iii ABSTRACT
Tirta, Rahma. Politeness Strategies of Bank Customer Service Officers at BRI Banks. English Applied Linguistics Study Program. Post Graduate School. State University of Medan. 2016.
This thesis deals with Politeness Strategies of Bank Customer Service Officers at BRI Banks. The objectives of this study were to identify types of politeness strategies and to examine the politeness patterns used by customer service officers in customer need identification process. The approach used in this study is based on politeness theory of Brown and Levinson.This study employed descriptive qualitative design. The data were the transcription of recorded observation and interview using recorder to three male and three female customer service officers of BRI Banks under BRI cabang Kisaran namely, BRI KCP Indrapura, BRI Unit Indrapura, and BRI Unit Kebunkopi, North Sumatra. The findings indicate that only three of politeness strategies used by customer service officers, there were bald-on record strategy, positive politeness strategies, and negative politeness strategies. Positive politeness strategies were dominantly used by bank customer service officers. Some factors were considered in using politeness strategies in identifying customer need. The factors were Social distance and closeness, relative status of participants, and amount of Imposition or degree of friendliness. By awaring these factors, the officers could safe the hearers face in order to enhance the customer satisfaction. The realization of these politeness strategies by the speaker were aimed to minimize Face Threatening Acts to endeavor a harmony in social interaction.
iv ABSTRAK
Tirta, Rahma. Politeness Strategies of Bank Customer Service Officers at BRI Banks. English Applied Linguistics Study Program. Postgraduate School. State University of Medan. 2016.
Tesis ini berkenaan dengan Strategi Kesantunan dalam tindak tutur kata petugas layanan nasabah Bank BRI dalam melayani nasabah. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengidentifikasi jenis strategi kesantunan, mencari pola strategi kesantunan yang digunakan oleh petugas layanan nasabah dalam mengidentikasi kebutuhan nasabah. Pendekatan yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah hasil rekaman dari observasi dan wawancara kepada tiga pria dan tiga wanita petugas layanan nasabah dengan menggunakan perekam suara saat melakukan interaksi di Bank BRI KCP Indrapura, BRI Unit Indrapura dan BRI Unit Kebunkopi. Hasil temuan menunjukkan tiga jenis strategi kesantunan digunakan oleh petugas layanan nasabah, yaitu bald-on record strategy, positive politeness strategies, dan negative politeness strategies. Positive politeness strategies dominant digunakan oleh petugas layanan nasabah. Strategi kesantunan ini digunakan oleh para penutur semata-mata untuk meminimalkan tindak pengancaman muka agar tercipta interaksi sosial yang harmonis.
i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Formerly, the writer would like to commence thanking Allah SWT for
blessing her to complete this project. This study is concerned with Politeness
Strategies of Bank Customer Service Officers at BRI Bank which is submitted to
Post Graduate School of State University of Medan in partial of fulfillment of the
final academic requirements to obtain the degree of Magister of Humaniora from
English Applied Linguistics.
Gifted hands from incomparable people were big favor for her to carry out
this thesis. It was unattainable for her to bring this thesis to a close. Hence, the
writer would like to highly appreciate all the people mentioned below.
Prof. Dr. Busmin Gurning, M.Pd., first adviser, thanks for his patience and
brilliance to supervise and sharing his scholar. His brightness colored every single
thought of the writer to complete this thesis. Dr. Anni Holilla Pulungan, M. Hum.,
co-adviser, appreciation is not enough to express thanks for her guidance,
criticism, consultation, time and supports, so the writer can wrap this thesis up.
Moreover, her gratitude goes to Director of Post Graduate School, Head
and Secretary also administration staff of English Applied Linguistics Study
Program of State University of Medan, all lecturers who have shared expertise
during times of Lecturing. Special thanks to board of examiners, Prof. Dr. Lince
Sihombing, M.Pd., Prof. Dr. Sri Minda Murni, M. S, Dr. Eddy Setia, M.Ed., for
ii
A very special gratitude goes to beloved parents, Mr. Harmon Yunaz and
Mrs. Lydia Hafni, beloved sisters Rahmi Fauza, S.Pd, Fauziana Fitri S.E., and the
youngest brother Rahmat Fadillah, S.E. Great love for great husband Mayor Inf.
Rizky Kurniawan. Their genuine heart to support the writer during her academic
year has lent a hand galore.
Then, thanks to certain Bank customer service officers in PT. Bank BRI
(Persero), Tbk under cabang Kisaran, namely PT. Bank BRI KCP Indrapura, PT.
Bank BRI Unit Indrapura, PT. Bank BRI Unit Kebunkopi who have participated
as source of the data in this thesis and for hospitality during observation. Special
thanks to Putri Ramadhani, S.S., M. Hum for every single supports, time,
guidance, correction, and consultation, so the writer finally can wrap this thesis
up. Friends, classmates and the writers mentioned in references of this thesis, they
are highly appreciated for sharing wisdom through academic writing.
No human being is flawless, so is the writer who is still very far from
perfect. Constructive critics and suggestions are highly expected for the
perfections of this thesis. The highest expectation is this work will be useful for
the readers.
Medan, Juli 2016 The writer,
Rahma Tirta
v
2.3 Reason of Politeness Strategies Usage ... 29
2.4 Customer Service in Bank ... 31
2.4.1 Customer Service Standard ... 33
2.4.2 Customer Satisfaction ... 35
2.5 Politeness Strategies on Bank Customer Service Officer ... 37
vi
2.6 Conceptual Framework ... 43
CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHOD 3.1 Research Design ... 47
3.2 The Data and The Data Source ... 47
3.3 Technique of Data Collection ... 48
3.4 Technique of Data Analysis ... 48
3.5 The Trustworthiness of the Study ... 50
CHAPTER IV. DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 4.1 The Data Analysis ... 52
4.1.1 The Types of Politeness Strategies Used by... Bank Customer Service Officers ... 55
4.1.2 The Politeness Strategies Used by Customer Service Officers in Customer Need Identification Process... 59
4.1.3 The Reason of Using Politeness Strategies by Customer Service Officers in BRI Banks ... 66
4.2 Findings ... 69
4.3 Discussion ... 70
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS DAN SUGGESTIONS 5.1. Conclusions ... 74
5.2. Suggestions ... 75
REFERENCES ... 77
vii
LIST OF TABLES
Tables Pages
Table 1. The Types of Politeness Strategies used by
Bank Customer Service Officers ... 58
Table 2. The Percentage of Politeness Strategies used by
viii
LIST OF FIGURE
Figure Page
ix
LIST OF APPENDIX
Appendix Pages
Appendix 1. Transcript of Utterances by Customer Service Officers
to the Customers ... 81
Appendix 2. The Utterances Bank Customer Service Officers Before ... Doing Data Reduction ... 99
Appendix 3. The Transcript of Selected Utterances of
Bank Customer Service Officers to Customers... 107
Appendix 4. Politeness Strategies of Bank Customer Service Officers in
Identifying Customer Need ... 115
Appendix 5. Interview Transcript ... 123
1 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1The Background of study
Politeness is a linguistics phenomenon involved in daily interaction
that reveals how people use languages to manage interpersonal relationships. The
reason it is important to understand the nature and significance of politeness is
because as soon as the interaction starts, each of the participants requires the
mutual understandings of the norms of communicating to maintain relationships
and interpret each other‟s behavior. The process of communication makes living
harmonious, through the shared interaction and information sharing between
individuals which occur naturally. Linguistic politeness is not equal to the
superficial politeness routines. It involves appropriate language choices in respect
to social relationship, relative status, and formality, which would not be the same
for all interlocutors and situations. Norms for polite behavior vary from one
culture to another, and therefore, linguistic politeness is also culturally bounded.
According to Reiter (2000), “politeness is not something human
beings are born with but something which is acquired through a process of
socialization”. The need of politeness research study then develop into the wider
communities of practice, rather than individuals, arbitrate over whether speech
acts are considered polite or impolite. A community of practice is an aggregate of
people who come together around mutual engagement in some common endeavor.
Ways of doing, ways of talking, beliefs, values, power relations-in shorts,
2
McConnell-Ginnet, 1998:490 cited in Mills, 2000) Thus, each community would
develop a range of linguistics behaviors which function in slightly different ways
to other communities of practice.
Banking is one of the most prominent sectors within the service
industry where service counter communication and politeness is demanded.
Politeness is thus equivalent to knowing the rules. That is, there are normative
rules in each social culture that guide speakers to distinguish politeness from
impoliteness. Shaw (2008:6) states banks must avoid being over-familiar or
inappropriate. They believe in maintaining a proper distance between themselves
and their customers, and respect for the serious nature of financial affairs.
Matsumoto in Yen Wang (2008:2) states, people are expected to act properly
according to their relative position or rank with regard to other members of the
group, and it is that relative position that they want to maintain when they employ
politeness strategies. In this sense, related to Yule (1996:60) politeness can be
accomplished in situations of social distance or closeness. Showing awareness for
another person‟s face when that other seems socially distant is often described in
terms of respect or deference.
Yule (1996:60) states politeness, in interaction, can be defined as the
means employed to show awareness of another person‟s face. As a technical term,
face means the public self-image of person. It refers to that emotional and social
sense of self that everyone has and expects everyone recognize. In banking
service, a series of interaction is most occurred between customer and service
provider, called customer service officer. Bank customer service officers are
3
They are responsible for ensuring that their company‟s customers receive an
adequate level of service or help with their questions and concerns. They require
loads of the ability to think analytical quickly, smart problem solving skills,
patience, politeness and much more. Related to the politeness, bank customer
service officers should be more concern for customer‟s face than the other.
Because customers are the heart of every successful business and therefore
businesses need to more concentrate on customers more than ever.
As Gilmour (1999:3) states there are some service standards that
customer service officers should be implemented. One of them is listening in
order to identify the customer‟s needs. They are required to handle any customer
dispute arising due to bank‟s fault. They need to resolve the customer‟s issue and
ensure that such kind of problem does not arise in future.
But in service marketing, Penfold (2014: 18) states needs and wants
are similar and sometimes interchangeable. A need can be explained as a basic
essential which keeps one alive. A want is something that a person desires, either
immediately or in the future. Basically, a want is for the product or service that
would satisfy a need, as shaped by the culture, personality and experience of the
4
Often, customers either aren't clear about what they need, or they don't
really know what they want. Effective customer service officer need to be trained
to ask the right questions, listen, and tailor suggestions in order to assist customers
satisfactorily. Correctly identifying customers' needs is essential for ensuring
customer satisfaction and loyalty. If the officer fails to properly identify
customers' needs, or if the officers are indifferent to customer needs, they will
take their business elsewhere. Identifying customers' needs creates satisfied
customers, and satisfied customers are less likely to have reason to enter into
disputes with the institution or contemplate legal action. When the officers are
able to accurately identify and adequately meet customers' expectations, customer
service reputation will automatically be enhanced. Some of the benefits of
meeting customers' expectations include, customers that transform from first-time
visitors to loyal clients, increased sales as customers feel more comfortable doing
business with the bank, more referrals from satisfied customers who bring in
additional business by word of mouth. However, when expectations are not met
by the performance of customer service officer, customer dissatisfaction is the
result. The quality of customer service officer is almost wholly determined by the
ability to meet the customer expectations. Bank can have the greatest service
team, but if the customers perceive their needs are not being met, bank service
reputation suffers.
As the means employed to show awareness of another person‟s face,
expressing politeness in identifying customers‟ needs by the officers could be
different in every unit. It refers to that emotional and social sense of self that
5
service, politeness and respect for the customer, effective communication with the
customer, and the general attitude that the server has the customer„s best interests
at heart. As Javadi (2012:69) states in banking industry, banking systems provide
the same types of services, but they do not provide the same quality of services. It
can be seen there are many customers complains to the customer service officer
when they are interact or communicate with them regarding to the politeness.
They tend to argue that they served impolite by the customer service officer.
Sudiono (2012) states as the Bank Mandiri customer she disappointed to the
service of one bank officer who speak rudely when she wants to open deposit
account. At that time she takes ID card, saving book and cash money on her to
open deposit account, but the officer states “Maaf ibu Lita, silakan pulang untuk
mengambil kartu ATM.” Therefore, she decided to move out and open account in
another bank. Same as the others, Khotimah (2012) states as the bank BRI
customer she is underestimated by the customer service officer when she wants to
check her point by saying “Cuma” to her saving money and because of this she
decide to close the account. She argues that don‟t ever make any differentiate in
serve the customer even they are poor or rich one. Those complain are contrary to
the requirement that customer service officer should have, that is showing
awareness of customer‟s face in order to satisfy the customers. Therefore, the
researcher wants to make a deep research in finding politeness strategy of bank
6
1.2The Problems of the Study
The problems of the study are formulated as in the following.
1) What are the types of politeness strategies that expressed by Bank customer
service officers in identifying the customer need?
2) How are the politeness strategies used by customer service officers in
customer service officers in identifying the customer need.
2) to explain the pattern of politeness strategies used by customer service officers
in identifying the customer need.
3) to elaborate the reason of those politeness strategies used by customer service
officers in the process of identifying customer need.
1.4 The Scopes of the Study
In this study, the discussion focuses on politeness strategies of Bank
customer service officers especially in identifying the customer need. Expressing
politeness to the customer in main office could be different to the customer in
unit. Therefore, this study would be limited on politeness strategies of bank
customer service officer placed in three branches under PT. Bank Rakyat
Indonesia (Persero),Tbk cabang Kisaran, namely Bank BRI Kantor Cabang
7
1.3The Significance of the Study
The findings of this study are expected to be significantly relevant
theoretically and practically. Theoretically, the research findings are expected to
enrich the theories of linguistic politeness strategies, specifically the spoken
language in service counter community, mainly in bank customer service. This
study considered being useful initially to provide the information of what
politeness strategies used by Bank customer service officer when they express
their oral communication in customer interaction. Consequently, it would give
better understanding and new insight of how politeness strategies are related to the
aspect of pragmatic study. This contribution would in turn give tentative
framework for a comprehensive analysis of politeness.
Since the research focuses on the communication between bank customer
service and the customer, the politeness strategies specifically to service counter
communication which occurs in daily conversation. Practically, it should be
maintained in order to increase the service quality level and performance of bank,
also to maintain the customer loyalty. In another aspect, hopefully it is useful for
readers and writers to realize and to learn how to react most effectively when
74 CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
5.1 Conclusion
The study concerned on politeness strategies used by customer service
officers of BRI banks and why the politeness strategies used and implied in
customer needs identification process by customer service officers of BRI Banks.
After deliberately analyzing the data, the conclusions are stated as follow:
1. Not all types of politeness strategies based on Brown and Levinson were
used by customer service officers, male and female. The strategies used
were bald on record strategy, positive politeness strategy, and negative
politeness strategy.
2. Male and female customer service officers used the same politeness
strategies. Both of them, male and female customer service officers tend to
used to used positive politeness strategies because they want to make the
customer feel respected.
3. The reason of using politeness strategies by bank customer service officers
in identifying customer need was triggered by some reason. The reason of
using bald on record during transaction was to convey their intention
directly in order to avoid misunderstanding. The use of positive politeness
strategy mostly was triggered by satisfying hearer positive face. The
75
to satisfy H’s negative face, to pay respect and deference to listener and to
maintain social distance and avoid the threat (or potential face lose) of
advancing familiarity towards the listener.
1. The customer service officers considered some factors in using politeness
strategies in identifying customer need. The factors were Social distance
and closeness, relative status of participants, and amount of Imposition or
degree of friendliness. By awaring these factors, the officers could safe the
herarers face in order to enhance the customer satisfaction.
5.2 Suggestions
Based on the conclusions stated above, this study has some suggestions as
the followings:
1. To students who are studying language to enrich and develop the students
knowledge of pragmatics particularly with the politeness strategies as
subtopic.
2. To other researchers who want to conduct the same topic with different
social interaction and different topic in different social interaction to see
the role of politeness strategy used by for speaker and hearer whether they
obey the politeness strategies during having communication or not.
3. To common readers, the pattern of politeness strategies used by customer
service officers and the variety of language style trigger us to be adaptable
and communicative people, voiding conflict by minimizing face
threatening acts in communication as the standard of customer services in
77
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