Page 61 - DMGT206_PRODUCTION_AND_OPERATIONS_MANAGEMENT

Production and Operations Management

Notes Box 3.3: Service Quality Gaps

 The service provider does not know what customers expect
 The wrong service quality standards are set
 Standards are not met (Service Performance Gap)
 What is delivered does not equal what was promised

 Gaps 1-4 lead to service that does not equal expectations
The ZPB model is applicable to all service providers and empirical research suggests that
organizations should manage to fill the quality gaps in services so that the customer will stay
satisfied.
Figure 3.6: Service Quality Gaps

Word of Mouth Personal Needs Past Experience

Communication

Expected Service

Gap 5
Customer Perceived Service

Gap 4
Service Delivery External
Communication to
Gap 3 Customers
Provider
Service Quality
Gap 1 Gap 2 Specifications

Management
Perceptions
of Customer
Expectations

In the Figure 3.6, the gap between customer expectations and perceptions is defined as the
Gap-5 and shown to depend on the size and direction associated with the delivery of services.
The Gap-1 is the discrepancy between the customer expectations and management perceptions
of these expectations. It arises from the management’s lack of understanding of how customers
formulate their expectations on the basis of a number of sources i.e. advertising by the firm, past
experience with the firm and its competitors, personal needs and communication with friends.
Strategies to close this gap include improving marketing research, fostering better communication
between management and service employees and reducing levels of management that distance
the customer. Gap-2 results from the management’s inability to formulate target levels of service
quality to meet perceptions of customer expectations and to translate them into workable
specifications. It results from lack of management commitment to service quality as a result
perception of infeasibility in meeting customer expectations for each of the resources and excessive
demand.

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