Rasmussen University Social Etiquette Principles Gap Analysis

Assess organizational deficiencies based on gap analysis. Student Success Criteria
View the grading rubric for this deliverable by selecting the “This item is graded with a rubric” link, which is located in the Details & Information pane. Scenario
You work as a strategic business consultant for small business owners. A coffee shop owner wants to figure out a way to reengineer her business model and address current operating issues that she is now facing due to social distancing guidelines. Instructions
Using this template include following in the gap analysis chart.Gap-Analysis-Chart.docx 

Create new strategic goals for reopening with respect to the following:

1. Social distancing guidelines

Use of online ordering

Use of technology

Possible delivery or pickup service

Once the goals are developed, you will rate them on a scale from 1-9:

1-3 = Minor impact to business

4-6 = Moderate impact to business

7-9 = Major impact to business

In addition, write a summary of the following below the template:

What are your recommendations for each goal listed based on the gap analysis chart?

What other gap analysis methodology tools could be used to further support your recommendations and why?

Based on each of your recommendations, explain what measurement would be used to determine the success of the goal and how it would increase organizational performance.

Based on your recommendations and analysis, what could be some of the potential organizational deficiencies of the coffee shop?

Attribution for credible sources for the gap analysis. 

Heres the info that will help!!Strategic planning requires an organization to do a self-assessment and set guidelines to meet organizational goals. While conducting a self-assessment, organizational deficiencies should be uncovered, and an action plan should be created to address them. Some of the most common deficiencies are listed in the media piece below.COMMON DEFICIENCIESLack of direction, goals, and objectivesImagine that you have a goal of driving across the country one day. You would never just jump in the car and start driving without having a strategy and objectives of how you could make the trip happen. Strategic planning in an organization is no different because without outline a clearly defined strategy, there are no future business objectives or goals. Having focus and purpose is vital to the success of any organization because, without objectives or goals, the organization is on “auto-pilot” without a vision for the future. If you do not have milestones or objectives along the way, there is no way that you would know if you accomplished the strategic plan that you developed. Think of objectives as the guiding element of a long-term growth plan to ensure that an organization has sustained success.Allocation of ResourcesCreating a strategic plan in an organization requires the entire employee base to make it successful. However, organizations can inappropriately allocate resources whether they are human capital, budget dollars, or technology to the wrong initiatives if they are not aligned with a plan. If a strategy is created in a silo, it is challenging to develop workflows, budgets, and allocate personnel because other business areas were not involved. Keeping an open line of communication and involving representatives from all areas of an organization can ensure that resources are allocated correctly. Organizations that do not plan properly are doomed to fail at meeting their objectives. As an example, imagine if organizations did not have a business continuity plan in when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, they were either forced to close or rushed to get something in place. The organizations that failed to react to change with the pandemic faced challenges. Hotels and airlines had to change the entire process of how guests were checked in. Imagine if the hotel or airline did not have enough resources allocated to help with process changes.Issues with the organizational structureA clear chain of command is the backbone of any organization from a complex hierarchical structure to a flat management structure. However, when roles and responsibilities are not clearly defined, it is difficult to plan for the organization. The core of strategic planning is to have assigned leadership that can guide the process of defining who is in charge and what tasks need to be delegated. For example, imagine that you go to get your car repaired and no one knows who is in charge or is supposed to repair the cars in the service bay. This would cause complete chaos for the customer experience and the normal business process. Organizations have to decide if they want a flat, matrixes, or complex hierarchical structure and understand the implications of each type.CommunicationEnsuring that the distribution of information in an organization is essential and crucial for sustainability and growth. Strategic planning requires that all parties understand the priorities, goals, and objectives for an organization. To be effective, a strategic plan should establish a clear line of communication for every employee. A strategic plan is dependent upon a formal communication structure that keeps information moving. Those organizations that fail to establish communication protocols are less likely to achieve their strategic goals. Without a solid communication strategy, important information can get lost or not to the correct department. As an example, many organizations get into a negative public relations situation because of a lack of communication. Imagine that a company is about to announce a major environmental initiative and the marketing team announces it without the executive board’s approval. An action like this could damage the strategic plan and reputation of the organization.Strategic planning can be the silver bullet for the success of an organization if they effectively manage their organizational deficiencies. An accurate assessment of what the organization does effectively and ineffectively should be done before strategic planning.

The strategic planning process involves analyzing data and measuring the success of goals and objectives. Some organizations use gap analysis to compare benchmarks and look for areas of opportunity. Also, gap analysis is known as a need’s assessment or a needs analysis. By conducting a gap analysis, it will help to identify “gaps” between projected and actual results to develop an action plan to eliminate the “gaps”. There are two levels conducted for gap analysis:Operational – this level compares the current state of organizational performance with the desired state that is included in the strategic plan.Strategic – this level compares the condition of your organization with others in the industry.Types of Gap Analysis MethodologiesNow let’s transition the conversation to the different types of gap analysis methodologies:SWOTA SWOT focuses on the strengths and weaknesses of an organization’s internal environment and opportunities and threats from the external environment. Conducting a SWOT helps an organization assess where they are in the market. Here are some common steps to conduct a SWOT:Assemble a cross-functional team to ensure different perspectives during the processList the internal strengths and weaknesses that are present in your organizationList the external opportunities and threats of your organization from the industry or more significant business environmentRank the SWOT elements by priority level based on your strategic planFishboneThe fishbone diagram, also known as the Ishikawa diagram, has been used by many organizations to determine the root cause of an issue or effect with strategic decisions. Capturing the cause and effect of issues and displaying them in a fishbone diagram helps to visually see how each issue relates to the problem at hand.PERT ChartsThe PERT chart is short for program, evaluation, and review technique, which is a project management tool where an organization can itemize all of the tasks that make up a project for analysis purposes. Another use of the PERT chart is the identification of the minimum amount of time needed for a project. The major benefit of gap analysis is that it can help with analyzing the amount of resources, time, and money an organization spends on a strategic initiative.McKinsey 7sThis gap analysis tool helps an organization gauge whether they are meeting expectations on a project or not. The seven S’s stand for the areas of focus with this tool: strategy, structure, systems, shared values, skills, style, and staff. The goal of this tool is to assist organizations with the following:Understand how organizational elements interlink in a process or functional area;Identify gaps that could hinder performanceAlign processes to improve efficiencyGAP ANALYSIS METHODOLOGIESSWOT AnalysisFocuses on the strengths and weaknesses of an organization’s internal environment and opportunities and threats from the external environment.PERT ChartsIs a project management tool where an organization can itemize all of the tasks that make up a project for analysis purposes.FishboneUsed by many organizations to determine the root cause of an issue or effect with strategic decisions.McKinsey 7sThis gap analysis tool helps an organization gauge whether they are meeting expectations on a project or not.Incorporating Gap Analysis into the Strategic Planning ProcessNow, we will discuss how to incorporate gap analysis into the strategic planning process.Listed below are the steps used to conduct a gap analysis:Select an area of focus – this could be enterprise-wide, business units, departments, or processes.Determine the outcomes or goals/objectives – it is imperative to be very specific when goal setting to ensure that you can get an accurate assessment. To improve a process, you have to know the area or areas that need improvement. Be sure that the goals are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely).Assess the current state of your organization – this requires a ‘deep-dive” into the current performance, financial health, productivity, and competitive standings in the market. Understanding the baseline is imperative to set goals for improvement; this is accomplished by working in collaborative teams to brainstorm and gather data.Determine the end state of the organization (what is the overall goal?) – looking back at step 2 of the process where you developed goals/objectives, you are now ready to develop strategies to help obtain or exceed these goals.Identification of the “gaps” between your current and desired organizational position – this requires using the information that was gathered in step 3 and looking at the opportunities in the organization and what improvements can be made to help achieve the strategic goals.GAP ANALYSIS STEPSStep 01: Select an area of focusStep 02: Determine the outcomes or goals/objectivesStep 03: Assess the current state of your organizationStep 04: Determine the end state of the organizationStep 05: Identification of the “gaps” between your current and desired organizational positionUnderstanding the different gap analysis methodologies and how to conduct one is essential to understanding how to achieve organizational goals and priorities.

Measuring organizational performance is something that every organization has to do, whether it is a large or small initiative. Performance measurements are typically quantitative metrics that allow an organization to track the progress of a strategic plan. Performance measures are commonly grouped into four categories:Customer Service – understanding customer service metrics is the “golden” key to success for any organization because without customers there would be no business. Some typical customer service metrics are:Net Promoter Score (NPS) – organizations that are typically looking for referral business use the NPS as an indicator to see if a customer would refer their business. The NPS is based on a numerical scale from 1-10 based on the likelihood that a customer would recommend your business. The following are categories for the NPS groupings:Score 9-10 = a “promoter” that would recommend your businessScore 7-8 = a “passive” which is pleased with your good or service but will not likely recommend your businessScore 0-6 = a “detractor” which is not happy about your product or service and will not support your business by leaving or giving feedbackCustomer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) – this metric captures the customer’s overall satisfaction level with your business, product, or service. The score is typically averaged from all of the responses from customers on a survey. It is common to see a numerical system or a star. For instance, sellers on eBay thrive off of customer feedback, which is done through qualitative feedback and a star rating from 1 to 5. Buyers use this rating to decide about the product and if they want to purchase from the seller.Customer Retention Rate – this metric measures the ability of an organization to keep a customer over some time. For instance, sales organizations use the customer retention rate to gauge the effectiveness of their sales representatives.Financial – at the core of every organization or business are the financial metrics, which give transparency to the financial health of an organization. Listed below are some of the standard financial measures:Gross profit margin (GPM) – provides an organization with the percentage of profit after deducting the cost of doing business but does not deduct interest payments, operating expenses, or any tax liabilities.Return on investment (ROI) – ROI is used to measure the efficiency of an investment or return relative to the initial investment cost.Return on equity (ROE) – ROE is a measure of how effectively an organization or a business uses equity or the money that was obtained from investors (stockholders).People – the heart of an organization are the people that are employed and make the business run daily. Some of the critical metrics that organizations review as it relates to people are:Cost-per-hire (CPH) – this is the measure of the total cost of onboarding and training a new employee.Attrition rate – this metric measures the rate at which an organization’s employee base turns over. Typically, call center environments or customer service departments see the most significant amount of turnover in an organization due to the entry-level nature of the jobs.Absence rate – this metric measures the rate of absenteeism in an organization’s workforce. Higher absenteeism equates to lower productivity and higher costs that an organization has to pay by employees using paid time off or sick time.Process – process measures determine whether an organizational activity has been accomplished in a specific time period. Think of process measures as the metric for all of the processes that an organization has.All of these measures are indicators of whether an organization is on the path to achieving its strategic goals and objectives. Now that we have discussed the different types of performance measures, let’s outline the five steps of the performance measurement process, which are listed in the media piece below:The Five Steps of the Performance Measurement ProcessAlways research the industry and set benchmarksThis is crucial to understanding how an organization can compete in their industry and continue to grow internally.An organization should be explicit and specific on their performance measuresEnsuring that all stakeholders understand the metrics and what is being measured is essential to meeting objectives.Define what success looks like and set performance goalsOnce an organization is explicit and clear on the performance measures, developing a strategy is necessary to define what accomplishing a goal means. Each goal should also include examples of what success would look like in a future state.Determine if you have the right infrastructure to report goalsIt is one thing to set a goal but another to measure and report on the status of the goals. Goal measurement can be both qualitative and quantitative, which require data from various sources. Ensuring that the proper software, feedback groups, and processes are in place are crucial elements of reporting.Call to ActionOnce an organization has gathered, analyzed, and reported the outcomes, what is next? Organizations need to create actionable tasks from a performance measurement exercise to ensure that improvements or achievement of goals are met.Measuring organizational performance is not a one size fits all process; it needs to be customized for each organization. Taking the proper steps and selecting the appropriate performance measures will enable an organization to meet its strategic goals.