Maslow Theory

12 Key excerpts on "Maslow Theory"

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  Psychology and Work

  • Christine Hodson(Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  self-actualisation, the feeling that the individual has truly fulfilled their potential. Maslow felt that this was a state which we should all aspire to but one which few of us would reach. Unlike the lower steps on the pyramid these needs become reinforcers in themselves. Fulfilling one’s potential at this level is highly rewarding and the individual will always seek more self-actualisation.

  Commentary on Maslow’s approach

  The theory had tremendous impact when it was first published. Until then there had been a tendency to regard the labour force as one unit of expense and to ignore the emotional needs of the workers. This is perhaps best illustrated by a quote from a textbook published in 1973 which was introducing Maslow’s theory and makes this comment about the impact it had upon management and organisational theory.

  More than the human relations movement it [Maslow’s theory] has acted as a counterweight to the demands of the industrial engineer to deskill and simplify work, for it has resulted in attention being paid not only to the physical and social environment in which a job is done, but also to the actual content of the work itself, since it is only in a task that satisfaction of the higher level needs may be obtained at work.

  Drake and Smith 1973: 36

  In other words higher level needs could be met in the workplace. Workers were fellow human beings and not just units of production. Intrinsic motivation and the fulfilment of growth needs were essential in motivating employees.

  Maslow’s work represents an optimistic view of human nature. However it has recently been open to criticism. For example people composed poetry in the concentration camps. Fasting has been used in many cultures as a tool to improve self-knowledge. Other individuals have chosen to starve for a strongly held political belief. People can be motivated by higher needs when lower ones are not being satisfied or they can choose the higher need before the lower one. How does this fit in to the hierarchy?

  In spite of these comments it is still the first four needs, physiological, safety, social and esteem needs, which are presumed to be met, either directly or indirectly, in the workplace. Wages, the environment in which we work, our contacts with our fellows and our status in the organisation are most likely to be manipulated to make us work harder, i.e. to motivate us to perform better. An illustration of the difficulty in applying Maslow’s theory can be seen in the controversy over the salaries offered to sports personalities. Which is the greater motivator for a professional footballer: £50,000 per week or an international cap?

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  Holistic Leadership

  A New Paradigm for Today's Leaders

  • Satinder Dhiman(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  3 Abraham H. Maslow, “A Theory of Human Motivation,” Psychological Review, Vol. 50 (4), 1943: 370–396. 4 Abraham H. Maslow, Motivation and Personality (New York, NY: Harper, 1954). 5 Ibid., 234. 18 S. DHIMAN Though many have suggested improvisations of his theory, it continues to be the benchmark standard because of its strong intuitive logic. In Maslow’s scheme, the needs are sequenced as follows, from the most urgent to the most advanced (Fig. 2.1): 1. Physiological Needs 2. Safety Needs 3. Belonging Needs 4. Self-esteem 5. Self-actualization Commenting on the hierarchical nature of needs, Maslow observes: It is quite true that man lives by bread alone—when there is no bread. But what happens to man’s desires when there is plenty of bread and when his belly is chronically filled? At once other (and “higher”) needs emerge and these, rather than physiological hungers, dominate the organism. And when these in turn are satisfied, again new (and still “higher”) needs emerge and so on. This is what we mean by saying that the basic human needs are organized into a hierarchy of relative prepotency. A peculiar characteristic of the human organism when it is dominated by a certain need is that the whole philosophy of the future tends also to change. For our chronically and extremely hungry man, … life itself tends to Fig. 2.1 Adapted from Abraham H. Maslow, “A Theory of Human Motivation,” Psychological Review, 1943, Vol. 50 (4) 370–396. SELF-MOTIVATION: MOTIVATING THE WHOLE PERSON 19 be defined in terms of eating. Anything else will be defined as unimportant. Freedom, love, community feeling, respect, philosophy, may all be waved aside as fripperies that are useless since they fail to fill the stomach. All that has been said of the physiological needs is equally true of the safety needs. 6 In the short space of two paragraphs, Maslow presents the essence of his understanding about the hierarchical nature of human needs.

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  Motivate and Reward

  Performance Appraisal and Incentive Systems for Business Success

  • H. Kressler(Author)
  • 2003(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  Motivation 14 Maslow One of the first comprehensive theories about motivation, which discussed primarily the motivation to work, was mapped out by Abraham H. Maslow (A Theory of Human Motivation, 1943). Maslow was not the first to try to explain human motivation; Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and others did a great deal of interesting work. But Maslow developed the concept of the ‘Pyramid of Requirements’ or ‘Hierarchy of Needs’, which proved to give a very revealing view of the subject and lent itself well to the working world. By applying both abstract philosophical deliberation and clinical obser- vation Maslow was able to identify five categories of human needs. Each of these needs is posited at a particular level. In this scheme of a pyramid or hierarchy, higher level needs are addressed only when those on the immediately lower level have been satisfied. Maslow’s conclusion is par- ticularly relevant to motivation behaviour. He argues that needs that are not (fully) satisfied have a ‘motivating’ effect, giving the impetus for cer- tain behaviour or action that should bring about the satisfaction of the need. This, however, only functions when all of the needs on the lower level have been met. In this way, therefore, only unsatisfied needs are ‘motivators’. According to Maslow it is possible to meet all but those needs posited on the highest level (five): these are of a type for which there is no closure. The individual needs are as follows: Level 5: The Need for Self-Actualization Understanding the world; acquiring wisdom; clarifying life’s objectives; achieving independence; developing creativity and individuality. Level 4: Esteem Needs Being acknowledged and esteemed by others; gaining self-confidence; having success; attaining knowledge, power, prestige, status and dignity.

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  Supervisory Management

  The Art of Inspiring, Empowering, and Developing

  • Donald Mosley, Donald Mosley, Jr., Paul Pietri, , Donald Mosley, Donald Mosley, Jr., Paul Pietri(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  Understand and explain Maslow’s hier- archy of needs theory and the principle underlying his theory. hierarchy of needs Arrangement of people’s needs in a hierarchy, or ranking of importance. physiological or biological needs The need for food, water, air, and other physical necessities. safety or security needs The need for protection from danger, threat, or deprivation. EXHIBIT 7-4 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Self- Fulfillment or Self-Actualization Ego or Esteem Social or Belonging Safety or Security Physiological or Biological Learning new skills, growing and developing, feeling a sense of accomplishment, exercising responsibility. Praise, recognition, promotion, getting one's name in the company paper as "employee of the month," being given more responsibility, being asked for help or advice. Work groups, group meetings, company-sponsored events. Safe working conditions, pensions and benefits, job security, fair treatment, fair grievance system. Pay, rest breaks, clean air. Ways of Satisfying the Need on the Job Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 198 Part 3: Leading favoritism, discrimination, or the unpredictable application of policies can be a powerful threat to the safety of any employee at any level Social or Belonging Needs Social or belonging needs include the need for belonging, association, acceptance by colleagues, and friendship and love. Although most super- visors know these needs exist, many assume—wrongly—they represent a threat to the organization.

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  Employee Motivation in Saudi Arabia

  An Investigation into the Higher Education Sector

  • Rodwan Hashim Mohammed Fallatah, Jawad Syed(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  1993 ).

  Khan et al. (2011 ) and Marques (2011 ) consider this theory to be the best known and most influential theory of motivation . Maslow’s theory has, in fact, had an immense influence to the point that many believe ‘most content-based motivation theories are based on Maslow’s (1954a ) Hierarchy of Needs …’ (Barbuto JR and Story 2011 , p. 25).

  Maslow’s Theory

  Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

  Maslow argues that motivation is best understood in terms of a Hierarchy of Needs , which for him are physiological , safety , love, esteem and self-actualisation (Bagozzi et al. 2003 ).

  Physiological Needs

  The starting point for the Hierarchy of Needs model is the basic physiological needs , e.g. oxygen, food, shelter, water, rest, etc. (Netotea-Suciu et al. 2012 ). According to Maslow , physiological needs are the most important to employees and without those, it is impossible to motivate and satisfy them (Khan et al. 2011 ).

  Physiological needs are presumed to be igniting the process of satisfaction (Kenrick et al. 2010 ), with the other basic needs in the hierarchy being derived from the satisfaction of the physiological needs (Maslow 1954a ). Thus, they ‘serve as channels for all sorts of other needs as well’ (Maslow 1943 , p. 373). What this means is that the major motivation first and foremost would undoubtedly result from the physiological needs —the most prepotent of all human basic needs (Raus et al. 2012 ). All of the other needs such as getting out of danger (safety /security needs ), affiliating with others and being accepted (belongingness and love needs ), achieving, being competent and gaining approval and recognition (esteem needs ), and problem-solving and personal growth (self-actualising needs ) become secondary (Maslow 1943

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  Psychology for Actors

  Theories and Practices for the Acting Process

  • Kevin Page(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Maslow’s primary concerns became understanding and conceptualizing a psychology that covered the full range of human experience, especially the most mature and healthy of the population. Instead of concentrating on the mentally ill, as most psychologists previous to him had done, Maslow became interested in studying the psychological traits of the most highly developed and mentally healthy people he could find. This led him to develop a theory of human motivation that extended from feelings of deprivation and struggle with basic needs, such as food and shelter, through the entire spectrum of human endeavor to include those rare individuals who might change whole societies by their actions, such as great historical leaders or sainted religious figures. Effectively, his theory of motivation integrated the findings of behaviorism and Freudian psychoanalysis (and its extensions), along with the holism of Gestalt psychology and the functionalism of William James and John Dewey, to create a model that Maslow considered both holistic and dynamic (Maslow & Frager, 1987, p. 15).

  Following are some of the contributions Maslow made to Western psychology, many of which became foundational to the humanistic psychology movement, and later the transpersonal psychology movement, described in Chapter 1 .

  Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

  Maslow postulated that human motivation is a multi-tiered affair, where one level of need must be satisfactorily fulfilled in order for the next higher level to emerge, creating a hierarchy, or predictable order of emergence, that is developmentally driven across the life span (Maslow, 1943a, 1943b). At the bottom of this hierarchy are what Maslow termed “physiological needs,” such as food, water, and oxygen, followed by sleep and the need for sex. Explained in the simplest of terms, if a person is starving or dying of thirst, it is unlikely that they will pay much attention to their needs for good company or conversation and position in the community until they have solved the problem of hunger or thirst.

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  Organizational Behavior

  • Mary Uhl-Bien, Ronald F. Piccolo, John R. Schermerhorn, Jr.(Authors)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  For example, physiological needs, such as the essential concerns of life (air, wa- ter, food, warmth), must be satisfied before safety needs are activated; safety needs must be satisfied before social needs are activated; and so on. Maslow’s model is easy to understand and has been quite popular for many years. How- ever, it needs to be applied with caution. Research fails to support the existence of the precise five-step, progressive hierarchy of distinct and independent needs. If anything, our individual needs are more likely to be dynamic and fluid in nature, rather than evolve in a strict, step- by-step sequence as described by Maslow. The higher order needs of self-actualization and esteem, may grow more important than the lower order needs of physiological, safety, and social, as one moves to higher levels of work responsibility, and it is very likely that multiple needs are present in our minds at the same time. 25 Studies report that our individual needs may vary according to our career stage, the size of the organization we’re in, or even geographic location. That is, needs tend to vary across situ- ation and time and are not as stable as personality traits. There is also no consistent evidence that the satisfaction of a need at one level decreases or increases the importance of a need at the next-higher level. 26 In addition, the presumed hierarchy of needs seems to vary across cultures. Studies suggest, for instance, that social needs tend to take on higher importance in more collectivist societies, such as Mexico, than in individualistic societies, such as the United States. 27 Self-actualization in Maslow’s theory refers to the need and desire of a person to realize his or her full potential. It is the desire to accomplish all that one can be. Esteem needs reflect one’s desire for recognition, status, and respect from others as well as the need for self-esteem.

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  Motivating to Perform in the Workplace

  • Institute of Leadership & Management(Author)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Session E

  E Understanding behaviour at work

  •  1 Introduction

  Understanding what motivates people is usually quite difficult. There is no simple formula: you can’t say ‘treat people like this and you’ll get the best from them’.

  The subject has occupied many brilliant minds over the past fifty years or so. In the next few sections we are going to look at some of the most significant theories about the behaviour of people at work.

  These are:

  ■  Abraham Maslow’s theory of needs. ■  Douglas McGregor’s ‘Theory X and Theory Y’. ■  Frederick Herzberg’s ‘two-factor’ theory. ■  Expectancy theory. ■  Hackman and Oldham’s essential job characteristics for internal motivation.

  You may feel that this is a lot to take in. However, you aren’t expected to remember the names, or even which theory is which. The important thing is to understand the ideas we discuss. Then in the remainder of the workbook we can use these ideas and see how far they can be applied to your kind of workplace.

  •  2 Maslow: needs theory

  2.1. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

  What are the needs of human beings? What must they have in order to be happy, successful – or even just to survive? The American psychologist Abraham Maslow considered these questions and came to the conclusion that human needs can be thought of as being on several distinct levels:

  ■  Physiological needs . If we are starving or have other fundamental needs like air, sleep and water, we become obsessed with satisfying these needs. Anything else is irrelevant at this time.

  ■  Safety needs . Once these bodily needs are satisfied, we look for security, and stability in our environment.

  ■  Love needs . Having fed ourselves and made ourselves safe, the next level of need comes into play. The ‘love’ or social needs are then important to us – affection, friendship and belonging.

  ■  Esteem needs . After satisfying all these ‘lower’ needs, we look for esteem, self-respect and achievement.

  ■  The need for self-actualization

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  Theories of Personality

  • Duane P. Schultz; Sydney Ellen Schultz, Duane Schultz, Sydney Schultz(Authors)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  chapter 9 Abraham Maslow: Needs-Hierarchy Theory What humans can be, they must be. They must be true to their own nature. — Abraham Maslow The Life of Maslow (1908 – 1970) A Miserable Childhood Alone in the World Finding a New Style of Life Becoming a Behaviorist From Monkeys to Self-Actualization Personality Development: The Hierarchy of Needs Characteristics of Needs Physiological Needs Safety Needs Belongingness and Love Needs Esteem Needs The Self-Actualization Need Conditions for Achieving Self-Actualization Achieving Self-Actualization in Non-Traditional Ways Cognitive Needs The Study of Self-Actualizers Metamotivation Characteristics of Self-Actualizers Failure to Become Self-Actualizing Questions about Human Nature Assessment in Maslow ’ s Theory The Personal Orientation Inventory The Smartphone Basic Needs Scale Research on Maslow ’ s Theory The Hierarchy of Needs The Belongingness Need Self-Esteem Self-Determination Theory Intrinsic Motivation Reflections on Maslow ’ s Theory Chapter Summary Review Questions Suggested Readings Abraham Maslow is considered the founder and spiritual leader of the humanistic psychology movement. He objected to both behaviorism and psychoanalysis, par-ticularly Freud ’ s approach to personality. According to Maslow, when psycholo-gists study only abnormal or emotionally disturbed examples of humanity, they ignore all the positive human qualities such as happiness, contentment, and peace of mind. We underestimate human nature, Maslow charged, when we fail to examine the best in people, that is, the most creative, healthy, and mature individuals. Therefore, Maslow decided that his approach to personality would assess society ’ s outstanding representatives. When you want to determine how fast peo-ple can run, he reasoned, you study not the average runner but the fastest runner you can find. Only in this way is it possible to determine the full range of human potential.

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  Motivation Pocketbook

  • Max A. Eggert(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Management Pocketbooks

    (Publisher)

  This can be affirmed by continually recognising good work, so that individuals think about themselves as doing a good job, and being great in their own way. 18 - An active promotion-from-within scheme - Self development programmes - Personal responsibility for quality - Personal responsibility for setting production targets - Category of benefits rather than set systems with same for all Copyright protected – Management Pocketbooks Ltd NEED THEORIES THREE LEVEL MAN ERG THEORY In this theory there are only three levels of need: existence (E), relatedness (R) and growth (G). Existence needs - Those things required to exist and survive, ie: the physiological and safety needs of a material nature - food, water, shelter (the first two levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy) Relatedness needs - Those things concerned with relationships and with the social structure, ie: being loved, needed and recognised (the third and fourth levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy) Growth needs - Those things to do with personal development and growth, ie: esteem and self actualisation. The difference from Maslow’s theory is that dissatisfaction in a higher need can be compensated by a desire for the next need down the hierarchy. This increases the importance of the lower level need. Thus, a low ‘growth’ job could be compensated by more pay, or a low status job by better job security. Note that when an employee complains, it may indicate dissatisfaction with a higher need and not the one complained of. A lot of effort, according to this theory, could wrongly be spent addressing the ‘vocalised’ problem and not the ‘real’ problem. 19 M A N A G E M E N T To page 4 Copyright protected – Management Pocketbooks Ltd NEED THEORIES THREE LEVEL MAN SATISFACTION & REGRESSION PATHS Note how the frustration of a higher need increases the importance of a lower need. 20 SATISFACTION & PROGRESSION FRUSTRATION & REGRESSION Copyright protected – Management Pocketbooks Ltd

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  Perceiving, Behaving, Becoming: Lessons Learned

  • H. Jerome Freiberg(Author)
  • 1999(Publication Date)
  • ASCD

    (Publisher)

  This brand of naive empiricism has been rudely displaced by 20th century physics, to say nothing of modern constructivism. No matter how healthy we may be, “knowledge does not reflect an ‘objective’ ontological reality, but exclu-sively an ordering and organization of a world constituted by our experi-ence” (von Glaserfeld, 1984, p. 24). Progressive educators may be attracted both to Maslow’s humanism and to a constructivist understand-ing of learning, but it is important to acknowledge that the two cannot be entirely reconciled. Where Maslow gets into more trouble is where his theory gets more spe-cific (and more famous): the well-known triangle on which needs are ar-rayed. Here the two-stage hierarchy of needs—deficiency and growth—is supplanted by a five-stage hierarchy as follows: At the bottom are physio-logical needs, which are “prepotent,” meaning that they must be satisfied first. When people get food and other bodily necessities, they are then concerned about safety. After safety comes the need for belongingness or love, then esteem or achievement, and finally, at the top of the triangle, comes the need for self-actualization, which he defined as “the desire to become more and more what one idiosyncratically is, to become every-thing that one is capable of becoming” (Maslow, 1970, p. 46). (Inciden-tally, in the revised edition to his basic text on motivation, published the year he died, Maslow made it clear that he believed “self-actualization does not occur in young people” [p. xx].) Before mentioning some problems with the hierarchy of needs, we should take a moment to clear up a confusion that is not Maslow’s fault. Some people, casually invoking his theory, declare that it is appropriate and even necessary to provide extrinsic inducements (notably, rewards) to A L OOK AT M ASLOW’S “B ASIC P ROPOSITIONS ” 97 an individual, because only later will he or she be ready to “move up” to the level of intrinsic motivation.

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  Theories of Personality

  • Richard Ryckman(Author)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  Presumably, we would be able to cast out this evil in ourselves. Because the evidence for a natural ethic is unconvincing, however, we are left with only the word of a moral authority, Maslow, that such a set of values indeed exists. The Hierarchy of Human Needs According to Maslow, human beings have two basic sets of needs that are rooted in their biology: deficiency needs (or basic needs), and growth needs (or meta needs). The basic needs are more urgent than the growth needs and are arranged in a hierarchical order. Maslow acknowledged that there may be exceptions to this hierarchical arrangement. For example, he maintained that there are creative people whose drive to create is more important than any other need. There are also people whose values and ideals are so strong that they will die rather than renounce them. The meta needs, in contrast, are not arranged hierarchically. In general, they are equally powerful and can be easily substi- tuted one for another. When any of these needs is not fulfilled, the person becomes sick. Just as we need adequate amounts of vitamin C to remain healthy, so we need love from others in sufficient quantities to function properly (Maslow, 1962, p. 21). In order to move toward self-actualization, we must have sufficiently gratified our basic needs, so that we are free to pursue fulfillment of the higher, transcending, meta needs (Maslow, 1962, p. 23). Basic needs From most to least powerful, the basic needs are the physiological drives, safety needs, belongingness and love needs, and esteem needs. (See Figure 12.1.) The pre- conditions necessary for the satisfaction of these needs include the “freedom to speak… freedom to express oneself, freedom to investigate and seek for information, freedom to defend oneself, justice, fairness, honesty, orderliness in the group” (Maslow, 1970a, p. 47). Without these freedoms, satisfaction of the basic needs is virtually impossible.

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