Gaps model of service quality Essay

The Gaps Model of Service Quality Chapter2-1 2 ï‚ § The Customer Gap – Gap 5 ï‚ § The Provider Gaps: ï‚ § Gap 1 – The Listening Gap ï‚ § not knowing what customers expect ï‚ § Gap 2 – The Design and Standards Gap ï‚ § not having the right service designs and standards ï‚ § Gap 3 – The Performance Gap ï‚ § not delivering to service standards ï‚ § Gap 4 – The Communication Gap ï‚ § not matching performance to promises ï‚ § Putting It All Together: Closing the Gaps McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright  © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Objectives for Chapter 2: The Gaps Model of Service Quality 2-2 ï‚ § Introduce a framework, called the gaps model of service quality, which is used to organize this textbook. ï‚ § Demonstrate that the gaps model is a useful framework for understanding service quality in an organization. ï‚ § Demonstrate that the most critical service quality gap to close is the customer gap, the difference between customer expectations and perceptions. ï‚ § Show that four gaps that occur in companies, which we call provider gaps, are responsible for the customer gap. ï‚ § Identify the factors responsible for each of the four provider gaps. 2-3 The Customer Gap Gap 5 Key Factors Leading to the Customer Gap Customer GapGap 5 2-4 Customer Expectations ï‚ § Provider Gap 1: Not knowing what customers expect ï‚ § Provider Gap 2: Not selecting the right service designs and standards ï‚ § Provider Gap 3: Not delivering to service standards ï‚ § Provider Gap 4: Not matching performance to promises Customer Perceptions 2-5 Gaps Model of Service Quality ï‚ § Customer Gap 5: ï‚ § difference between customer expectations and perceptions ï‚ § Provider Gap 1 (Knowledge Gap): ï‚ § not knowing what customers expect ï‚ § Provider Gap 2 (Service Design & Standards Gap): ï‚ § not having the right service designs and standards ï‚ § Provider Gap 3 (Service Performance Gap): ï‚ § not delivering to service standards ï‚ § Provider Gap 4 (Communication Gap): ï‚ § not matching performance to promises 2-6 Provider Gap 1 CUSTOMER Expected Service Perceived Service COMPANY Gap 1: The Listening Gap Company Perceptions of Consumer Expectations 2-7 Key Factors Leading to Provider Gap 1 2-8 Provider Gap 2 CUSTOMER COMPANY Customer-Driven Service Designs and Standards Gap 2: The Design and Standards Gap Company Perceptions of Consumer Expectations 2-9 Key Factors Leading to Provider Gap 2 2-10 Provider Gap 3 CUSTOMER COMPANY Service Delivery Gap 3:The Performance Gap Customer-Driven Service Designs and Standards 2-11 Key Factors Leading to Provider Gap 3 2-12 Provider Gap 4 CUSTOMER COMPANY Gap 4: The Communication Gap External Service Delivery Communications to Customers 2-13 Key Factors Leading to Provider Gap 4 2-14 Gaps Model of Service Quality 5 Gap 4 Gap 3 Gap 1 Gap 2 2-15 Ways to Use Gap Analysis ï‚ § Overall Strategic Assessment: ï‚ § How are we doing overall in meeting or exceeding customer expectations? ï‚ § How are we doing overall in closing the four company gaps? ï‚ § Which gaps represent our strengths and where are our weaknesses? 2-16 Ways to Use Gap Analysis ï‚ § Specific Service Implementation ï‚ § Who is the customer? What is the service? ï‚ § Are we consistently meeting/exceeding customer expectations with this service? ï‚ § If not, where are the gaps and what changes are needed? (Examine gaps 1-4 for this particular service.)

Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud: Early Influences Essay

Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud – two of the best known names in psychiatry – each had tremendous roles in the field of psychoanalysis. Born nearly twenty years apart, they met in 1907 (Kendra Cherry ), and their first conversation was rumored to have lasted thirteen hours, they had such a good rapport. Jung soon worked under Sigmund Freud and they became great friends, although Freud was more of a father figure to Jung. Although they both had similar thoughts on issue of psyche development, they differed in significant ways, and those differences eventually drove them apart. Although Jung did believe, like Freud, that sexual drive often had a great influence on behavior, he felt that Freud did not go far enough, and that this was only one contributor to people’s personalities and issues. Jung’s theories reflected a much more religious component, and Sigmund Freud’s theories were based in scientific evidence. The obvious question might be, how did their own lives and early experience shaped their theories? Sigmund Freud was born in May 6, 1856, in what is now the Czech Republic. His family was large, wealthy and Jewish, and â€Å"young Siggie,† as his mother called him, was not only the oldest of six children but had two half brothers from his father’s first marriage. Although initially religious, spirituality took a back seat when his family went bankrupt and moved to Vienna. It then became important to encourage Sigmund academically, so he could become a doctor and help the family financially. Because of this, he was the only sibling to have his own room to concentrate on his studies, which may have fed his feeling of importance. Also, in those Victorian times, people suppressed their sexual drives, and perhaps this was a major motivator for Freud. He was influenced by science; Darwin’s, â€Å"The Origin of the Species,† was first published just after Freud was born. Science was Freud’s religion. Freud was actually an atheist as an adult (WGBH Educational Foundation , 2004). His belief was that religion was something that someone had to overcome and religion basically was an expression of underlying psychological neuroses and distress ( Kendra Cherry). He pursued the link between the physical and psychological, and his father’s death in 1896 caused him to delve even deeper into the world of dreams and the unconscious. He definitely believed in the role of repressed sexual attraction in parental relationships and later, adult relationships as causing many of the problems people faced. Jung, who agreed that sexual drive was a factor, also thought Freud was very negative. Jung was born in 1975 in Switzerland. He was the fourth – and only surviving – child of his parents, Paul, a pastor (Carl Jung Biography, 2012), and Emilie, his mother. His father was a fairly poor, although his was given a more prestigious parish later on. His mother was from a wealthy family. Young Carl soon learned to trust his father more for his consistency, as his mother suffered from depression and spent much time alone in her room, claiming spirits visited her there. At one point in Carl’s life, she was hospitalized, and he was sent to live with his spinster aunt. Carl Jung grew up solitary and alone with his thoughts: he was an introvert. When Jung was growing up, he had a fascination with mystical phenomena. In fact, although his family was Christian, he was more drawn towards the occult and mystical beliefs, and his mother read to him about exotic religions and shared her own mystical beliefs. He had some early experiences, such as his creation of the wooden mannequin he hid in the attic, that reinforced his idea that a â€Å"collective unconscious† of ancestral, spiritual origins played a huge role in people’s lives. He combined medicine with philosophy in many ways, and experienced strange phenomena early on that later became important contributors to his theories of the unconscious and the role of spirituality in psychological development. Unlike Freud, Jung felt religious belief was necessary to development. Perhaps his role as a Swiss doctor during WWI, and seeing the carnage, reinforced his belief in the necessity of spirituality in a person’s life. Jung, with his lesser emphasis on sex drive and his religious bent, might be something of a prude in his personal life, but he was not. Married with five children, he actually had a rather open marriage, with many sexual relationships. By this time, however, Jung had had a falling out with Freud, whom he ironically accused of being too obsessed with sexuality alone. In the end, the break may have been when Jung published his book about transformative symbols, which included mythical symbols. Freud, of course, thought this was nonsense. Jung’s belief in individuation, which was the spiritual journey to bring the â€Å"two sides† of a person’s psyche together, rejected Freud’s belief that there was a clear, scientific reason, rooted in physiology, for everything. It is easy to see, in looking at both m en’s lives and childhoods, how their very different experiences shaped their theories. Freud and Jung, themselves, are good examples of what, in fact, influences a person’s personality. Bibliography Kendra Cherry. (n. d. ). Freud & Religion . Retrieved from About: http://psychology. about. com/od/sigmundfreud/p/freud_religion. htm Carl Jung Biography. (2012, Nov 12). Retrieved from Soul Therapy Now: http://soultherapynow. com/articles/carl-jung. html Kendra Cherry . (n. d. ). Sigmund Freud Photobiography. Retrieved from About : http://psychology. about. com/od/sigmundfreud/ig/Sigmund-Freud-Photobiography/Freud-and-Jung. htm WGBH Educational Foundation . (2004). The Life of Sigmund Freud. Retrieved from PBS: http://www. pbs. org/wgbh/questionofgod/twolives/freudbio. html.

Political Philosophy, Values, and Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Political Philosophy, Values, and Ethics - Essay Example Critics of the article, Bekemeier & Butterfield (2005), came up with their own publication for and against some of the views of ANA’s article.. I agree with the authors that the nursing practice should be politicized in order to prevent health care from fully developing into a market-based endeavor. The health of a community is the key to its progression, and as the authors find, nurses are more connected to community than people could ever imagine. Therefore, if we take this topic into consideration, we do not only stand to save the community for poor health statues, but also support their progression and also the development of health care and nursing practice. Kindly go through my paper to see the importance of this. Yours Truly, Name Political Philosophy, Values and Ethics According to Bekemeier & Butterfield (2005), the American Nurses Association (ANA) documents â€Å"Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements, Nursing's Social Policy Statement and Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice† offer a vague, inconsistent and shallow conceptualization of social justice. The authors also argue that the documents do not present a sufficient framework for nurses to tackle underlying issues, which affect health outcomes. In spite of extensive references to the significant role of nursing in social reform, the American Nurses Association’s documents unreservedly reinforce nursing practice directed to the individual nurse-patient affiliation and offer short shrift to treatment models, which endorse wide systems change aimed at improving health (Allen, 1987). According to Bekemeier & Butterfield (2005), apolitical nursing commands are incongruent with the structure in which nurses practice these days. The author think that people should refer to it as caring when they provide emotional and technical support to patients who are afterwards discharged to face dispossession in the wider civilization. In accepting the political nature of n ursing practice and notion, nurses have a chance to challenge the belief of neutral caring (Allen, 1987). Nurses make each and every act a political act as they practice in communities, with their patients, as well as among normal citizens. Nursing actions derived from an institutionalized replica of powerful traditional, sales-driven paradigms and objectivities from multifaceted problems should be political (Bekemeier & Butterfield, 2005). Available, as well as consistent language, in the United States’ nursing documents and anywhere else can, nevertheless, validate socially just actions, which create new opportunities and meaning for nurses, supporting nursing leadership in acting on fundamental matters that affect people's health. Nursing guidance and standards in any country should center on illuminating roles for nurses to successfully challenge political structures that oppress. Accepting a critical paradigm allows nurses us to see how knowledge and their privileged pos itions as witnesses can be utilized for social change. This can expand also roles for nurses to legally take part in political activism in their professional lives and practice settings. Bekemeier & Butterfield (2005) acknowledge that racial fairness, worldwide peace, reproductive freedom, as well as

Critical Thinking Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Critical Thinking - Case Study Example Arbitration would ensure that consumers are able to have their cases resolved at a quicker rate and without any loss of time. The consumer can therefore be able to perform his/her daily duties with minimal fuss. According to Currier et al., recent studies suggest that, the percentage of consumer arbitration case outcomes, in favor of the consumers, stood at 55% and an additional 93% of respondents interviewed, regarding their general feelings and perceptions of the use of arbitration in consumer contracts, was favorable. They cited that they thought that, the use of arbitration, was more favorable than court cases due to their perceived fairness in dealing with consumer cases (Currier et al., 2009). Additionally, arbitration as a process is significantly cheaper than litigation in court. The high fees required by lawyers is non-existent in arbitration making it a cheaper alternative to court litigation. The insertion of the arbitration clause provides consumers with the ability to protect themselves against harmful or sub-standard goods and services supplied by a company. The arbitration clause provides consumers with the choice to purchase a good or service from one company or another in accordance with their preferences and tastes. Additionally, the arbitration clause provides a legal avenue that can be exploited by the consumer in case of a dispute. The introduction of binding arbitration clauses in consumer contracts will help both parties protect themselves against disputes and breach of

Wal-mart Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Wal-mart - Essay Example The company has a wide customer base with over 200 million customers served on a weekly basis (Walmartstores). In 2010 Wal-Mart Corporation achieved sales of $405 billion. This sales figure represents an improvement of 1% in comparison with 2009 and 8.34% in comparison with fiscal year 2008. These figures are impressive considering that during this period the world was in the middle of a global recession. Typically the retail business in one of the hardest sectors hit during a recession. Wal-Mart was able to keep growing despite the recession. In 2010 Wal-Mart had a return on return on assets of 8.9%. Wal-Mart obtained a small increase in sales in 2010, but its profitability when up a lot. The net income of the company was $14,335 million. The company achieved an increase in net income in 2010 of 6.97%. The cash reserves of the corporation increased from $7,275 million in 2009 to $7907 million in 2010. The total assets of the company went up by 4.45% in 2010. The debt to equity ratio of the corporation in 2010 was 1.34. This figure is bit above the normal desirable ratio of 1.0. The industry debt to equity ratio of the retail industry is 0.48 (Dun & Bradstreet). This means that Wal-Mart’s debt to equity ratio is below the industry. Due to the fact that the company is such an established business the company has the ability to finance its operation beyond the norm. The ratio means that the company has chosen to more of its operations with debt than with equity. The current ratio which measures the company’s ability to pay off its short term debt is 0.87. The 8.9% return of assets metric of Wal-Mart is much better than the industry norm of 3.6%. In 2010 the company had a return on equity of 19.65%. This figure is much better than the industry norm of 4.2%. Wal-Mart Corporation is one of the most successful businesses in America. The common stocks of the firm are a good

Discussion 6 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Discussion 6 - Assignment Example From this point, I would say I am superstitions about a number of things, especially those that have to do with the Christian religion. For example, I belief that people die because of the sinful nature of humankind: as the bible says that the wages of sin is death. This is contrary to science, which gives reasons like old age and diseases as the natural cause of death. I also believe that the universe was architecturally structured and created (by God) though science says that the universe came about through evolution. I also believe that the world will come to an end all people will be judged though science denies this. The argument on the existence of God is a very dicey. This is perhaps because of the divergent debate around the existence of God. But the personality of God, just as science are both not conclusive and totally convincing. This is because in the case of science, not every phenomenon of the universe has been proven by science. This is why we have metaphysics. The personality of God is also too abstract to believe. But drawing a line, it would be said that both instances exist as science has never convinced the world of the genesis of the universe. Though science talks about evolution, the question will continue to be that â€Å"who created that first particle that started expanding and why has the human race not changed to something else if we evolved from apes. Why have apes not also turned into humans after a long time. So there is an unseen part of the existence of the world and that is God. Indeed, to belong to a religion is a good action to take. This is because all religions have a very high level of preaching and teaching that highlights on good and harmonious living. If indeed all persons were to stay by the core principles of religion, it is very likely that the world would be a peaceful place to live. But more importantly, he time should come when the debate will not be

Occupational Therapy for Dementia Patients Assignment

Occupational Therapy for Dementia Patients - Assignment Example A patient may display abrupt mood swings, become aggressive and angry due to chemical changes in the brain. The patient may develop fear and frustration as he feels that he is gradually losing knowledge and understanding of his surroundings (Scout News, 2006). A person with AD may live anywhere from three to twenty years after diagnosis. On the final phase of AD, a patient becomes increasingly immobile and dysfunctional, totally incontinent that he cannot control his urine or bowel movement; may become bedridden that bed sores and suffers from muscle pain; may lose the ability to swallow and may not be able to eat or drink properly. At the stage of end of life care, the patient may require feeding tubes, respirator, antibiotics and hospitalization. Occupational therapy is recommended by physicians to help the patient improve the ability to perform daily activities and reduce the pressure on their caregivers (Griffith, 2007). Occupational therapy can improve the daily performance, communication, sense of competence and quality of life of an AD patient. The therapist applies a combination of education, setting feasible goals, using adaptations in physical environment, training compensatory skills, training supervision skills, and changing dysfunctional cognitions on patient behavior. The occupational therapist can help the patient's caregiver to understand the impact of AD ona person's day-to-day function (Scout News, 2006). ... the occupational therapist based on Canada's Occupational Therapy Resource Site (2009): 1) minimize distractions in the environment by reducing excess noise at mealtime and decrease confusion by eating regularly, maintaining same table setting, use plain dishes and minimal cutlery; 2) provide opportunities for independence and personal control by dressing, lay out the clothes in the order that they will be put on by the patient and allow the patient with AD to do as much as he can for himself together with verbal cues and encouragement. When eating, use tableware with enlarged handles, plates with rims, and non-slip placemat to help the patient maintain coordination and be independent; 3) ensure consistency in routines by preparing a schedule of regular daily activities for personal care, medication, meals, leisure, walking, and retiring to bed; 4) maintain a safe and secure environment for the patient by providing grab-bars, non-slip bathmat, bathbench and hand-held shower with ther mostatic shower control in the bathroom; 5) manage stress by developing coping skills, providing support, and counseling; 6) learning about the disease, its effects, and future care. II. Diagnostic procedures and Prognosis of OT Intervention Physicians usually do not tell the patient that he has AD. Only in the case than the patient expresses the need to know the truth that the doctor discloses his condition. The doctor will prescribe drugs to slowdown progression of AD. Drug trials are performed in early stages of AD. Most of the doctors dealing with AD will recommend Occupational Therapy to help the patient improve his capability to perform daily activities and speech therapy to maintain verbal skills of patients with mild symptoms of AD. Another type of therapy developed is