Thursday 18 February 2016

MASLOW'S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS MOTIVATION THEORY

My MBA graduation, 2007




Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory was a proposal in the early 1940’s by psychologist AhrahamMaslow of a way to motivate people at the workplace. Maslow suggested that a five-level hierarchy of human needs existed; that the needs were rated from first to fifth; and were satisfiable in that order.The five types of need identified by Maslow were physiological,safety and security,social or love, self-esteem and self-actualisation needs. 

According to Maslow, a need on a lower plane had to be satisfied before a higher one could be a motivator. However, Maslow did point out that a need did not have to be completely satisfied before the next higher one became stimulating: a higher need surfaced immediately a lower one was satisfied to a reasonable degree.

Maslow's theory states that a need that has been satisfied ceases to motivate. In management terms, it means the supervisor does not have to focus on giving an employee more of the same thing to motivate them. She has to see what the need on the next higher plane is and provide the environment in which the employee is able to achieve it.

What the foregoing argument actually means is that if, for example, an employee’s physiological needs were met, accommodating her in a bigger house would not motivate her as much as removing the likelihood that she could lose employment anytime (which would likely make her physically and emotionally insecure).The rationale of the argument is that this would likely result in better performance of work by the employee.


What are the Five Hierarchies of Needs in Maslow’s theory?

The five need levels in Maslow’s theory are:

  1.      Physiological needs. These are survival needs and include food, water, air and shelter.

  2.      Safety and security needs. These are needs to do with protection from harm, increased job security and elimination of threats to an individual well-being.

  3.      Social needs. Social needs are also called love needs. They concern desire for affiliation and acceptance by others.

  4.      Self-esteem needs. Self-esteem needs are about feelings of self-worth and recognition of one’s work by others.

  5.      Self-actualisation needs. These constitute the highest need level, according to Maslow. They concern desire to unleash one’s full creativity, search for greater personal development and chances to explore new areas of challenge. The needs in this class do not end, and so, desire to achieve is always there.


                    
                
                
                 Figure: Maslow's hierarchy of needs.




Empirical studies have shown that Maslow’s theory has some big weaknesses. 

Firstly, individual differences in human beings mean that the needs are not always satisfied in the order proposed by Maslow. For example, people like pugilist Muhammad Ali early in their lives appeared to seek to fulfill self-esteem and self-actualisation needs (I’m the greatest!) in spite of their relative deficiency in ‘lower-order’ needs; seemingly defying the hierarchy proposed by Maslow.

Secondly, needs can be met both at the workplace and outside. A possible problem, in view of that, is that a manager may be trying to address a need that has already been satisfied outside; and the effort would be unlikely to make an employee work harder or better. So, just because a need has not been met at work does not mean it has not been satisfied even outside.

Thirdly, it is possible for a person to address more needs than just one at the same time. For instance, a good salary from a job can be used to satisfy physiological needs like food and shelter but can also be a means of financing safety and security needs like personal protection from criminal harm.  In such a case, there is not always a one-step-at-a-time progression from physiological to safety and security needs. 

Notwithstanding the weaknesses, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory remains one of the most widely-known motivational theories.


How Can the Needs be Addressed at Work?

The work-place can address the employee needs proposed by Maslow in a number of ways. An example of addressing physiological needs is paying an employee enough to buy life-saving requirements like food, clothes and accommodation.

Sources of safety and security include harmless tools and instruments, healthy work environments, as well as pension schemes.

Social or love needs can be met partly by providing an atmosphere in which employees are friendly to each other and interaction is promoted in such ways as organising social events including celebration of staff birthdays.

One management solution to employee self-esteem needs is recognising outstanding achievement by, for example, giving promotion, changing title and raising salary.

Opportunities for entering unexplored arenas and allowing employee creative ability to fully come out can help satisfy self-actualisation needs. They can include placing an employee at the head of a major business diversification project team.


Conclusion

Abraham Maslow has made at least two important contributions to the study of motivation:
·          
     - He has identified classes of needs that managers can be aware require satisfying.

·         - He has made managers recognise that a need that is not satisfied ceases to be a strong motivator.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory is one of the ‘content’ or ‘needs’ theories of motivation that include Frederick Herzberg’s two-factor theory, David C. Mclelland’s acquired-needs theory and Clayton Alderfer’s modified needs theory.

Rupert Chimfwembe
February 18, 2016

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