Abraham Maslow's Need Hierarchy

Maslow developed the hierarchy of needs theory of motivation based on the idea that human needs can be arranged in order of importance from the most basic. Once a need is fairly well satisfied it no longer motivates behaviour and man is then motivated by the next higher level of needs. Maslow divided human needs into five levels:

(a)Physiological Needs

These are the most basic human needs for sustaining life e.g. food, air, shelter and clothing.
These needs have certain characteristics:
•    they are relatively independent of each other
•    they can be identified with specific location of the body
•    to remain satisfied, they must be met repeatedly within a short time
•    unless these needs are satisfied to the degree necessary to sustain life other needs will not motivate people.

(b)Safety or Security Needs

These needs are expressed as desire for protection against danger, threat or deprivation. The desire may be economic, physical or for social safety. Employees may for example desire economic security, orderly working relationships etc.

(c)Social Needs

These include need for belonging, love, acceptance, friendship, association, and need to give and receive love. Man being a social being will aspire for a place in his own group and will strive to achieve it.
Some managers who fear informal organizations may attempt to direct and control employee relationships in ways that frustrate their natural grouping and employees may react by being antagonistic, hostile and uncooperative.

(d)Esteem Needs (EGO)

According to Maslow these needs do not become motivators until the lower level needs have been reasonable satisfied. These needs are rarely completely satisfied. Once these needs become important to an individual he will continually seek satisfaction of them. The typical industrial organization offers only limited opportunity for the satisfaction of these needs at the lower levels of employment. Esteem needs consist of both self esteem and esteem by others. Self esteem needs include achievement, self confidence, self respect, competence independence and freedom. Satisfaction of these needs leads to feelings of worth, power, prestige, status, capability, strength and feelings of being useful and necessary in the world. Frustrating these needs may lead to feelings of inferiority, weakness and helplessness.

(e)Self Actualization Needs

These needs according to Maslow emerge after all other needs have been satisfied. Self actualization needs include the realization of one's potentialities, self fulfillment, self development and creativeness.
The form these needs take varies from person to person just as human personalities vary. Self actualization can be satisfied through any of these ways, athletics, politics, academics, family, religion, hobbies or business.
A creative state is involved since creativity is realizing one's own potential to the fullest degree whatever it may be. It is a feeling of accomplishment and attainment and being satisfied with one self.

Note

•    forever wanting, so all needs are never fully satisfied once the importance of a need diminishes another need emerges to replace the already satisfied ones.

•    The process of need satisfaction is never ending and it serves to continually motivate people to achieve their needs.

•    The needs are interdependent and over lapping since one need does not disappear when another need emerges.

•    Maslow's theory applies only to a typical healthy person.In most rich and developed countries, or among the rich of society physiological and safety needs may not be motivators but for the poorly paid low class workers and in poor economies physiological needs are strong motivators—for example in regions hit by famine and/or epidemics physiological needs may remain the only motivation of behaviour.

•    Maslow's hierarchy theory has general and not specific application. One may deny himself one need so as to satisfy another much better e.g. a student who denies himself sleep and social interaction in order to attain higher grades in examinations, or a father may deny himself social needs by working on two jobs in order to be able to send his children to school.

•    Need theory claims that money can satisfy some needs but contends that the worker is motivated primarily by intrinsic rewards which are provided by the worker himself.

•    Maslow's theory is important to managers because it spells out the needs that people have. When managers know what people need, they can know how to help them satisfy these needs. Knowledge of each category of needs can help management in making management decisions especially those regarding employees. The decisions made by management must show concern for people's needs. Management can for example meet people's esteem needs by providing them with opportunities for advancement.

It must however be realised that needs even the basic ones like clothing and shelter are elastic—its hard to identify how much is enough! Research has also shown that even the lowliest employee has needs for esteem and self-actualization. In practice therefore managers must take a situational or contingency approach to the application of Maslow's theory. What needs they appeal to will depend on personality, wants, desires and interests of individuals.