Interpersonal Communication of Field Officers as an Effort to Improve Performance and Customer Satisfaction at PT Bintang Lombok Utama

Interpersonal Communication of Field Officers as an Effort to Improve Performance and Customer Satisfaction at PT Bintang Lombok Utama

I Putu Yogi Artha & I Wayan Ardhi Wirawan

Institut Agama Hindu Negeri Gde Pudja Mataram, Indonesia

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2024.8120052

Received: 29 November 2024; Accepted: 03 December 2024; Published: 31 December 2024

ABSTRACT

This Research are dedicate for describing and analyzing interpersonal communication between field officer PT Bintang Lombok Utama and PLN ULP Rayon Ampenan customers at satisfaction level in order to be better and not repeat the same mistakes, object from this research is dedicated for field officer to solve the electricity problem that experienced by customers to improve field officer mitra PLN performance that is PT Bintang Lombok Utama ULP Rayon Ampenan in order the relationship between functionary and customer can stay maintained. the method that use in this research is qualitative descriptive method, and collect the data with observation method, interview, and documentation, the resources in this research taking by purposive sampling, the result of this research is discuss about interpersonal communication field officer as an effort improvement the performance and customer satisfaction in order able to state there are good improvement of officer field PT Bintang Lombok Utama performance in ULP Rayon Ampenan. a. customer satisfaction in positive role in order able to state the performance of field officer PT Bintang Lombok Utama has good improvement and existence need for more increased. b. in solve the customer problem, the field officer PT Bintang Lombok Utama often founding several constraint, such as the time of customer that restricted, the language that use in communication, electronic media and application that use by customer. c. the implication from interpersonal communication the field officer PT Bintang Lombok Utama and customer PLN ULP Ampenan is informed the work partner of PLN that is PT Bintang Lombok Utama in the society and to know the satisfaction level of customer at the performance of field officer partner PLN from PT Bintang Lombok Utama and informed the innovation that has developed by PLN which is PLN Mobile to PLN ULP Rayon Ampenan Customer. Research recommendations is all of partner PLN to implement interpersonal communication of customer able to improve in order the satisfaction level of customer has significant improvement.

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication, Customer Satisfaction, PLN mobile.

INTRODUCTION

The performance of a company can be seen through the results of data in the field, in electrical service work such as PLN, performance can be seen through the results of customer satisfaction with the efforts made. It is possible that there is a high level of satisfaction due to the excellent performance of the team in the field, but not infrequently the results of the level of satisfaction can be low due to miscommunication between customers.

For communication used with customers is interpersonal communication. According to Joseph A. Devito (2011), interpersonal communication is communication carried out in delivering messages, both verbal and nonverbal, between the communicant and the communicator by mutual agreement. Meanwhile, according to R. Wayne Pace (1979), interpersonal communication is face-to-face communication where the number of communicants and communicators can be two or more people.

Along with the development of existing technology, communication can be accessed anywhere, from PLN itself has several innovations, one of which is PLN Mobile. However, the reality of using PLN Mobile is still far from expectations, according to previous research from Shintya, et al. (2019) entitled “The Role of Service Quality with the PLN Mobile Application in Increasing Customer Satisfaction”. The purpose of this study was to determine the use of PLN Mobile in increasing customer satisfaction. By using quantitative methods. In the study of Shintya, et al., it was stated that the influence of the use of PLN Mobile on customer satisfaction has a low relationship.

Not only one study is used as a reference by researchers, where it is stated that PLN Mobile itself still has functions that are less responded to by customers, which is stated in the study of Putri, et al. (2019) entitled “Usability Evaluation on the PLN Mobile Application User Interface Using the Heuristic Evaluation Method”. This study aims to be an evaluation of the usability of the PLN Mobile application, where this study provides recommendations for improvement so that the functionality of PLN Mobile can be further improved.

From several existing studies, researchers want to explore the existing problems. Researchers try to observe in the field, accompanied by interviewing several customers and asking permission to document in the form of photos. The following are photos taken by researchers while conducting observations in the field and interviewing customers,

Picture 1 interview with a customer named Mrs. Ika

Picture 2 interview with Mrs. Mangku Nyoman

From the observations and interviews above, it is hypothesized that interpersonal communication in the field still needs to be considered so that all elements of society know the conditions in the field. Therefore, the skills and reliability of field officers are needed in socializing the conditions in the field to customers who are still lay. These field officers are not only from the PLN office, but can also be from PLN partners. One of them is PT Bintang Lombok Utama.

METHODS

The design of the research used by the researcher in the study of Interpersonal Communication of Field Officers as an Effort to Improve Performance and Customer Satisfaction of PT Bintang Lombok Utama is a descriptive qualitative research with data collected using observation data, interviews and documentation. The researcher used a purposive technique to determine the informant. The informant in this study was the customer of ULP Rayon Ampenan based on the formulation of the problem, namely: 1) How is the interpersonal communication of field officers as an effort to improve the performance of field officers from PT Bintang Lombok Utama; 2) What are the inhibiting factors of interpersonal communication of field officers as an effort to improve the performance of field officers of PT Bintang Lombok Utama; 3) What are the implications of interpersonal communication carried out by PT Bintang Lombok Utama officers related to customer satisfaction of PLN ULP Ampenan.

RESULT & DISCUSSION

Communication given by Ni Nyoman Mariani stating that PT Bintang Lombok Utama field officers always communicate with ULP Rayon Ampenan customers because information or messages from officers can help to find out the disruption that occurs at the customer’s place. Although field officers must be patient to explain the disruption. The following is an excerpt from the interview:

“There was no confirmation from PT Bintang Lombok Utama officers, sir, the information given by PT Bintang Lombok Utama officers was how the problem I got and also explained, how to solve it so I could find out what caused the problem I got today, sir. Of course I gave a response back to PT Bintang Lombok Utama officers because of my ignorance. Yes, if you say it’s easy or not, it’s quite difficult, sir, because my basic is not in this field, so for the explanation from PT Bintang Lombok Utama officers, I can only digest a few. They didn’t fix it right away, sir, but were given files, whether the files matched the problem I got so they didn’t immediately do the task given by PLN. Yes, they gave directions but what can a layman do, so my cellphone is an old cellphone that can’t use the internet, so I better come directly to PLN in Ampenan” (June 14, 2023).

Not much different from what was conveyed by other customers, which reaffirms how PT Bintang Lombok Utama field officers always conduct direct face-to-face communication even though the customer’s education does not fully understand the problems being faced, the following is an excerpt from an interview with Ika Ratna Carolia who stated that:

“Sorry, I just replaced my brother because he was called by his boss so I was asked to replace him to supervise this house so I didn’t know at first whether the PT Bintang Lombok Utama officers communicated first or did the job directly. When I supervised the officers, I was only given information about the root of the problem in my brother’s house because this is not my house so my response was to agree with whatever the officers gave. As for understanding this, I personally don’t understand it, maybe because my background is not a technician but only a street vendor. It’s certain that the officers didn’t have time to give me further direction because I saw them working quickly and then felt rushed. Maybe in my opinion they were chasing the deadline for the next job so they couldn’t even give direction regarding PLN mobile” (June 5, 2023).

Of course, based on the field observations conducted by the researcher, it is true that interpersonal communication that occurs between PT Bintang Lombok Utama field officers and PLN ULP Rayon Ampenan customers only occurs verbal communication, but in this case the customer’s educational background also causes the information or message conveyed by the field officer to be slightly hampered and based on the results of the interview above in accordance with the Customer Satisfaction Theory, namely simple confirmation where the services provided to customers have been fulfilled even though they do not provide a sense of satisfaction and the service is not disappointing so that customers will have neutral feelings.

In the communication that is carried out moment officer field finish problem , there is a number of inhibitor in communication delivered by​ Ni Nyoman Mariani in the following interview excerpt:

“Yes, it really limits me, especially since I’ve been very busy lately, so yesterday I didn’t have time to reply to chats and call back the officers because it was a foreign number, so that’s how it was, thankfully when the officers came I was already at home so it wasn’t in vain that they came. Luckily they came in the afternoon when I had arrived home after coming home from work otherwise they wouldn’t have met me and had to wait in front of my house. Yes, we have to use Indonesian too, sir, because we are the Republic of Indonesia, even though we have various tribes and customs, the main language is Indonesian. The problem is maybe my communication with the officers is not as good as it should be from where we have to contact each other because of my busyness and I apologize to the officers, sir, if we meet again, oh they are kind to provide solutions so that the same damage does not happen again, but if that solution doesn’t work they also say to contact PLN again. “Oh, I’m sorry sir, if the use of applications like what you said, PLN Mobile, I’m sorry sir, I can be said to be less up-to-date with today’s technology, maybe later I’ll tell my child to learn or use it because I find it easier to come directly to PLN in Ampenan than to have to learn like this again, sorry, I’m already old” (June 14, 2023).

This was reinforced by what the informant said above, namely an interview with Ika Ratna Carolia who also stated that the field officers had tried to communicate well, but it could still be said that her older sister was busy so that Ika had to replace her sister to supervise her sister’s house, as expressed in the following interview excerpt:

“Yes, it’s very limiting, especially sir, look just now my brother had already left before I came here as his replacement to supervise the work of the officers. Maybe because of the working hours, our response is not good, but if it’s during break times like 12.00 or in the afternoon, maybe it can be done. Personally, I prefer to use Sasak to the officers, especially if the officers are also Sasak, but if the pronunciation of the Sasak language is slightly different, I have no choice but to use half-hearted Indonesian. The obstacles when communicating are what I just mentioned, language, then my understanding of this damage seems new, they communicated face to face with me, even though I was younger while fixing the damage to my brother’s house, but they were still polite and gave me the available solutions. Now for the use of the application on PLN mobile, maybe later I will tell my brother, hopefully he can install the application and register it, and this is an innovation, so it’s better to continue using it than to waste it” (June 5, 2023).

Based on the interview results presented above, it shows how important free time and the language used in communication are. Moreover, the vocabulary in different languages means that the meaning of the message to be delivered by the field officer will also have different meanings. Realizing this, field officers must be able to explain it well with language that can be understood by customers.

From the explanation Details things the , Implications of interpersonal communication carried out by PLN Partner field officers with PLN ULP Rayon Ampenan customers Already own very good impact in the field . This can observed in the interview Ni Nyoman Mariani as one of the customers of ULP Rayon Ampenan, through an interview with her, told several activities carried out in solving electrical problems at the customer’s house related to the implications of communication carried out by field officers. As expressed in the following interview excerpt:

“My problem is just reducing the power, so this is the first time, because the amount of the burden that must be paid is too high so that my income cannot cover it. Therefore, for the first time I cannot compare it with others, because the problems are different. Well, the officers are present to solve my problems, I am very grateful, because the processing time at PLN is quite long, so I have to pay for several things again to be processed quickly. If you say my hope, this is enough with the scale of the field officers with my thinking so far, but I don’t know about your thinking. The application can also provide an assessment response, right sir? I think it’s only to report field conditions, maybe when there is more fortune, I can change my cellphone to install the PLN mobile application, for now I apologize, I can’t use the application “(June 14, 2023).

Based on the interview results above, it can be seen whether or not field officers are successful in meeting customer expectations in accordance with the function of the Expectation Disconfirmation Theory which reveals the value of customer expectations that are relatively close to neutral, so it is necessary to improve communication between officers and customers so that all of this will have implications for the customers themselves or all customers of ULP Rayon Ampenan in the future.

Not much different from what the informant said above, in the interview statement that the researcher conducted with Ika Ratna Carolia in the following interview excerpt, it was stated that:

“No, this is the first time it has happened so as a layman, I went straight to the PLN office in Ampenan, because this is the first time so we cannot compare it with the existing experience. For expectations, it is in accordance with the expectations that I expected. But I don’t know exactly what my brother’s expectations are because this is my own expectation. The field officer came quickly to help my brother’s house, fortunately this problem could be resolved quickly if it didn’t take up my time too, to wait to supervise this work while I myself have other jobs. I, as a millennial, don’t know how far the application is because I rarely use it, but if given the opportunity I will try it, I also hope that there will be no more damage to my brother’s house, but if there is another opportunity, I will use the application “(June 5, 2023).

Based on the expression from the results of the interview with the customer above, it was revealed that the customer, even though he was replacing his busy brother, was grateful because of the speed of the officer in dealing with the damage that occurred at the customer’s house so that the customer’s time was not wasted too much.

In the results the interview that has been put forward so communications conducted by officers​ field with customer Already Can categorized as very good with corner view of ULP Rayon Ampenan customers , where satisfaction customer Already Can achieved with good , but Still No Can use existing innovations​ due to the electronic media used customer Not yet in accordance with specification PLN Mobile application . This is due to Because growth sufficient economy​ No evenly distributed across the location study so that need time for the PLN Mobile innovation to be possible used by all PLN ULP Rayon Ampenan customers .

CONCLUSION

Interpersonal communication of field officers as an effort to improve the performance of field officers from PT Bintang Lombok Utama is to use good interpersonal communication with customers, where customer satisfaction is directed positively so that it can be said that the performance of PT Bintang Lombok Utama field officers is good and its existence needs to be maintained so that it does not decline in the future.

Factors inhibiting interpersonal communication of field officers as an effort to improve the performance of PT Bintang Lombok Utama field officers include, a. very limited customer time, b. language used, c. electronic media and applications used.

The implications of interpersonal communication carried out by PT Bintang Lombok Utama officers related to customer satisfaction of PLN ULP Ampenan in the field aim to, a. inform the activeness of PLN’s work partners, namely PT Bintang Lombok Utama in the eyes of the public, b. find out the level of customer satisfaction with the performance of PLN partner field officers from PT Bintang Lombok Utama, c. inform and recommend innovations that have been developed by PLN, namely PLN mobile, to PLN ULP Rayon Ampenan customers.

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