Gap Analysis of Service Quality

Review the Gap Analysis of Service Quality article. The basis of the gap analysis model is the identification and measurement of differences in five key areas of the service delivery process. Notice how the model on the last page of the article is divided by a horizontal line, with the area below the line representing the provider side of the service encounter and the area above the line representing the customer side. There is an additional Gap 5 on this model between the expected service and the perceived service on the customer side of this model. Gap 5 represents the core issue of expectations versus perceptions and is the only gap that occurs exclusively in the customer’s space. This is a gap between the service a customer expects to receive and the customer’s perceptions of the level of service actually received. The score for this gap, which can be positive or negative, is the manifestation of a firm’s customer expectations management strategy. For marketing managers, ongoing use of the gap model to identify emerging problems in service delivery is an important way to ensure service quality.

Assignment:
Consider each of the five gaps where customer expectations might not be met. Write a graduate-level paper on Gap Analysis, relating it to your organization and incorporating the bulleted areas below into your paper.

• Is service quality a topic of discussion in your organization? Should this be of concern to your organization?

• Which of the 5 Gaps do you believe is the hardest to close for your organization and why?

• Using your organization, for each of the five gaps, discuss the situation then list specific actions that the firm could take to improve the likelihood that customer expectations will be met on a regular basis.

• If you wanted to improve service in your organization, what would you recommend? Which Gap would you start with and why? In what order would you then proceed to close the Gaps for your organization and why?

APA