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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Printed Sources:

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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.

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