What are the SERVICE GAPS?
Gap 1: The Knowledge Gap: Difference between consumer expectations and the management perceptions of consumer expectations. This gap can be narrowed through adequate research programmes.
Gap 2: The Standard Gap: Difference between management perceptions of consumer expectations and service quality specifications. This gap can be closed by standardizing service delivery process wherever possible and also setting right organizational goals.
Gap 3: The Delivery Gap: Difference between service quality specifications and the service actually delivered. This gap can be eliminated by providing the employees with adequate support system and better human resource policies and programmes and improving teamwork.
Gap 4: The Internal Communication Gap: Difference between service delivery and what is communicated about the service to the consumers. This gap can be eliminated through efficient and effective communication system and also by not giving false promises to customers that leads to higher expectations.
Gap 5: The Perception Gap: Difference between the perceived service and expected service. This gap depends on the size and directions of the first four gaps associated with the delivery of service quality.
3y bridging gaps 1 —4, automatically gap 5 can be closed. The gap analysis is useful in setting priorities for actions in order to improve the company’s image in the eyes of the customers.
What are the causes of Gaps in Service Quality?
The assessment of quality takes place in the customer’s mind simultaneously as services are created and delivered. The custor-ner’s level of satisfaction is largely influenced by the difference between customer’s expectation and perception of service performance. Whom the delivered service is perceived to be better than expected, the outcome is that the customer is satisfied and vice-versa.
The Gap between expected service and delivered services has its origin at different points:
Gap 1: Customers Expectation:
It is simply not known what the customers expect. The intangible nature of service makes it difficult to define customer expectations quantitatively.
Even the customer sometimes is not articulate enough to explain as to what are his/her specific expectations.
It is also observed that some service quality dimensions are difficult to quality.
As a result, marketers have to depend upon their own judgment, which sometimes is at a variance with the customer expectations
Gap 2: Management Perception of Customers Expectation:
The customer expectation needs to be translated into appropriate performance standards. Many a time a service firm has a good idea as to what customers expect but fail to develop them into appropriate service specifications. There are many reasons responsible for if. Inadequate commitment to quality lack of inclination to specify quality standards and measure quality. Perception of unfeasibility, perception that services cannot be standardized etc.
Gap 3: Service Delivery:
This refl6cts variation of the actual performance from the standard performance i.e. failure to conform to established standards. It occurs when the employees are unable to or unwilling to perform at desired level. Role ambiguity, role conflict, poor employee-job fit, lack of training, absence of proper motivation system etc may be the reasons for it.
Gap 4: External Marketing Communication:
A service companies external communication efforts i.e. advertising, publicity, personal selling and public relations may over-promise and that logically results into this gap to occur, The marketers find it very hard to resist the temptation of making big promises. Otherwise they know that if they don’t make tall promises their appeal to the customers won’t be that exciting and the entire promotion exercise may be reduced to any.
Gap 5: Actual Service Performance (As perceived by the customers):
This Gap occurs when the customer’s perception of delivered service is at variance with the expected service. The customer’s experience of the service is conflict upon many factors and some times the service may need customer’s expectations and yet perceived otherwise. The key to providing good service quality is meeting and exceeding customer’s expectations.
This gap is the end result earlier four gaps.
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