Chapter I

Introduction

1.1. Background of the Report

Basketball is one of the favorite sports in Indonesia. Basketball have been

known since Indonesian was still under Dutch colonialism, generally in Yogyakarta

and Solo. The history of basketball began in the first PON, in September 1948.

Basketball has become one of the sports contested. Since that time basketball began to

develop rapidly. The basketball sports union was formed on October 23, 1951 called

Persatuan Basketball Indonesia as known as PERBASI. Unfortunately in 1955, they

changed to Indonesian Basketball Association with the abbreviation permanent

PERBASI. In the same year an Indonesian basketball conference was held in Bandung.

One of the famous basketball clubs in Indonesia today is a basketball club from CLS

Knight. CLS Knight is a company that manages basketball clubs in Indonesia, such as

CLS Knight for men's basketball and Surabaya Fever for women's basketball.

As a big organization, CLS Knight needs liaison officer to assist away teams

from ASEAN countries, for example, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and others.

Liaison officer is playing an important role as someone whose job is to establish a

working relationship between two of more agencies, often in order to help them work

on a mutual problem or concern. The role of the liaison officer in CLS Knight's

company is to arrange a match schedule between the CLS Knight and away team’s,
become intermediary between away team’s manager and the CLS Company and also

provide the latest information related to the match.

As a liaison officer, our role it is very important in the company and must be

in good criteria as liaison officer. First, skills of communication and organization. We

must have skill of communication and good organization. As liaison officer, we must

manage communication between two companies that we handle and work with

effectively. Besides that, we are also required to be professionally within the

organization and be intermediary between two companies. Second, Background

education. Being a good liaison officer must has a good educational background. One

of the criteria is has the ability and skill of communication that is very capable and

masters the language. Liaison officers are also required to always be responsible for

the work on the field and avoid any miscommunication between the two companies.

According to Craig Woodman (2007) that liaison officer is in charge working

with different people or companies. There are several qualifications of being good

liaison officer, such as, maintain the knowledge as well as an understand impact the

contact, excellent verbal, capability to negotiate and influence others. So, it means

being a good liaison officer must has good quality in the communication and capability

of give the information as well to the company.

As a liaison officer, we certainly have interactions with our clients in the form

of communication. There are some cross cultural conflict between liaison officer and

client. Different countries have different cultures. Cross-cultural misunderstandings or

conflict may arise whenever there are cultural differences. The different cultures might

have further differences. According to (Lynette Louw, 2012; Boohar, 2001) conflict is
part of being human and thus it is a pervasive aspect of socio-cultural and professional

interaction. People who have never experienced conflict at the workplace are ‘living in

a dream world, blind to their surroundings or are confined to solitary confinement’.

Being a liaison officer is not escape from miscommunication and misunderstanding

between the two participants. It because becomes a liaison officer there will be several

obstacles and conflicts that often occur. Besides that, the writer did not have any

training before internship. Therefore, the writer wants to make a report about “The

application of liaison officer qualifications in solving cross cultural conflict problems.”

1.2. Statement of the Problem

1.2.1 What is the application of liaison officer qualification in an internship at CLS

Knight?

1.2.2 How to resolve cross cultural conflict as Liaison Officer?

1.3. Purpose of the Report

1.3.1 To discover what is the application of the liaison officer qualification in an

internship at CLS Knight.

1.3.2 To discover how to resolve cross cultural conflict resolution as Liaison Officer

1.4. Benefit of the Final Report

1.4.1 for Writer

 Writing the final report makes the writer realized that to be liaison officer is not

easy. Liaison officer must be good in communication and has skill to handle the

communication between two companies. Therefore, this final report makes the writer

become more practical and learn about, and the writer is also able to develop listening

and speaking skills.

1.4.2 for the Alma mater

This final report is beneficial to the alma mater in able to maintaining and

improving with CLS Knight Companies. The university can also maintain and improve

the relationship with the company for providing internship program and also increase

the number of scientific of Universitas Airlangga.

1.4.3 for Institution

This final report has advantage for the company. By looking at the final report,

the company is able to evaluate the intern progress and development. The company can

also maintain and improve the quality of their internship.

1.4.4 for Other Interns

This final report is very useful and beneficial to other interns in able to get the

knowledge about the company, the other interns can ask to the company about

internship and get prepare for themselves and also the quality of other interns can be

improved.
1.5 Review of related literature

1.5.1 The application of the liaison officer qualification in an internship at CLS

Knight

According to Ziprecuiter article (2018) there are several qualification and

requirements to be liaison officer. There are excellent verbal and written

communication skills, ability to establish and nurture beneficial relationships, self-

motivated with a willingness to take initiative and solve complex problems, capability

to negotiate with and influence others.

As a liaison officer at CLS Knight, applying the capabilities that already on

qualifications listed is not easy. Therefore, the writer wants to review the applications

that have been carried out during the internship at CLS Knight. Liaison officer must be

in excellent communication skill. Based on Zofi Yael article (2017), as liaison officer

must learn how to effectively communicate across cultures to accomplish results. Zofi

gives four strategies how to apply cross cultural communication as liaison officer, there

are: Listen, Effectively communication, Avoid ambiguity, and Respect differences.

First, the strategy is listen. According to Zofi Yael (2016), active listening is

the single most useful way to overcome barriers to effective communication. We listen

for meaning by checking back with the speaker to ensure that we have accurately heard

and understood what was said. Communicating across cultures adds another layer to

the “noise” that is already present, which makes it critical to add that extra step of

checking back. For example, people from diverse cultures may use the same word in

different ways. It is important to repeating what you think or what you heard and asking
if that’s what was intended confirms your understanding of its meaning. Listening is

an important ability for a liaison officer. Besides that, listening is important when

communicating well so as not to make some between the two participants.

Second is effectively communication. Zofi Yael (2016) stated that being liaison

officer, communication is the important one to know what people’s need. The aim is

to keep the communication lines open and transparent so that when conflicts arise and

we will can quickly find a resolution.

Third is avoiding the ambiguity. Avoiding or tolerating ambiguity doesn’t

necessarily mean that you deliberately avoid ambiguous situations. The goal is to avoid

the uneasiness that could lead to frustration, which hinders your ability to effectively

communicate. Having prior knowledge about team members’ cultures can also help

reduce ambiguity. (Zofi Yael, 2016) It means, as liaison officer, we have to avoid the

ambiguity between us and the participants. As liaison officer, we must convey the

communication clearly and be understood by the participants.

Fourth, respect differences. As liaison officer, we have to be respect for

distinctive characteristics that we may bring to a group, others do as well. According

to Zofi Yael (2016), if you want to be respected for distinctive characteristics that you

may bring to a group, others will do as well. For example, assume a clear and

welcoming tone when you communicate, using the phrases please and thank you, and

flexibility in communication.
1.5.2 How to resolve cross cultural conflict resolution as Liaison Officer.

As liaison officer there will be conflict between the participant and the liaison

officer, for example miscommunication and misunderstanding. According to Smith,

Miller, et al (2002) The following are some potential causes or situations in which

conflicts or misunderstandings can happen, such as, misunderstandings or conflict

between different nationalities, religious or ethnic groups, cultural ignorance and

insensitivity, lack of awareness of different societal lifestyle practice, differences in

cultural practice, miscommunication and misinterpretation.

During the internship, as a liaison officer we must be able to solve the problem

quickly and precisely so that no miscommunication occurs again. Based on QCOS

Community (2018) successful conflict resolution of cross cultural conflict comprises

three aspects: desire and necessity for the conflict to be resolved, understand of possible

barriers to the resolution of the conflict, and the choice of method of conflict resolution.

First, desire and necessity for the conflict to be resolved. The cross cultural

conflicts or misunderstanding, liaison officer need to be committed to take

responsibility for bridging the cultural gasp. As liaison officer we must to have self-

awareness of their own cultural practice, understand various cultural factors

contributing to cultural differences, have good knowledge of skills in communication,

be willing to accept and appreciate other cultures.

Second, understanding of possible resistances. During the conflict resolution

process, we might experience internal resistance to recognition of problem. For

example tendency to blame others for causing problems. That means we might have a

misunderstanding problem with them. What we mean is not understood by them

because we convey it according to our culture.

Third, methods of conflict resolution. Different people might accept different

conflict resolution methods. It is important to use methods that are suitable with all

participants and might help of acceptable to resolving cross cultural conflicts. To

resolve conflict that arising from different culture are identify the similarity and

differences between your cultural, build on common ground, and acknowledge the

differences and attempt to balance the interest of both participants.

1.6 Method of the report

1.6.1 Location and Participant

The writer conducted an internship at CLS Knight Surabaya as Liaison Officer.

The topic that the writer observed and developed further in this final report is about the

application of liaison officer qualifications in solving cross cultural conflict problems.

The writer conducted a case study on six team’s men basketball players from Macau,

Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam and women basketball players for

Piala Walikota 2019 from Singapore. The writer observed the condition and situation

based on stadium and in the bus.

1.6.2 Data Collection

 In carrying out the case study, the writer used several ways to collect the

necessary below:

1.6.2.1 Observation and Record

In order to gather data, the writer observed the communication happened during

her internship in CLS Knight. First, the writer observed how the way they speak

English conversation. Second, the writer recorded the conversation between the

participant and the writer. Third, the writer tried to find out the problem and obstacle

happened during the communication with the participant. In this case, the participant

way of choose English word that can be misunderstanding or miscommunication.

1.6.2.2 Chatting on Social Media

The writer collected the chat on social media with a player from women

basketball Singapore. Then, the writer highlighted some words that can be

misunderstanding or miscommunication.

1.6.2.3 Data Analysis

After collecting the data, the writer analyzes the English word used by

participant from different cultures that can make a miscommunication and

misunderstanding. Related the application of liaison officer qualifications in solving

cross cultural conflict problems. Further by analyzing the way to solve

misunderstanding, the writer tried to see whether she has met the criteria of a

qualification of liaison officer while conducting an internship at CLS Knight.

1.7 Framework of the report

PROBLEMS
3. What is the application of the liaison officer in
cross cultural communication at CLS Knight?
4. How to resolve cross cultural conflict
resolution as Liaison Officer?

INPUT PROCESS
1. Data collection 1. Observed and recorded
2. Observation 2. Find out the problem on chatting
3. Data Analysis social media
3. Collect the data

OUTPUT
1. To discover what is the application of
the liaison officer in cross cultural
communication at CLS Knight.
2. To discover how to resolve cross
cultural conflict resolution as Liaison
Officer.