Abraham Maslow,
an eminent U.S. psychologist, gave a general theory of motivation known as Need
Hierarchy Theory in his paper published in 1943. Maslow made assumptions that
people need to satisfy each level of need, before elevating their needs to the
next higher level e.g. a hungry person's need is dominated by a need to eat
(i.e survival), but not to be loved, until he/she is no longer hungry.
According to him:
(i) People have a wide range of needs
which motivate them to work,
(ii) Human needs can be classified into
different categories,
(iii) Human needs can be arranged into
hierarchy,
(iv) Human beings start satisfying
their needs step by step.
(v) A satisfied need does not motivate
human behavior
Classification of human needs:
(i) Physiological needs:
These needs arc related to the survival
and maintenance of life. These include food, clothing, shelter etc.
(ii) Safety needs:
These consist of physical safety
against murder, fire, accident, security against unemployment, etc.
(iii) Social needs:
These are also called affiliation needs
and include need for love, affection, belonging or association with family,
friends and other social groups.
(iv) Ego or esteem needs:
These are the needs derived from
recognition, status, achievement, power, prestige etc.
(v) Self-fulfillment or self-actuation
needs:
It is the need to fulfill what a person
considers to be his real mission in life. It helps an individual to realize
one’s potentialities to the maximum. Maslow is of the opinion that these needs
have a hierarchy and are satisfied one by one. When first needs are satisfied
then the person moves to the second and when this is satisfied, he moves to the
third and so on.
Today the focus in most Western
societies is on the elements towards the top of Maslow's hierarchy - in which
work environments and 'jobs' (including 'having a job' and the satisfaction or
otherwise such jobs provide - have become typical features. Notably the
attainment of self-esteem and, at the very top of the hierarchy, what Maslow
calls 'self-actualization' - fundamentally the synthesis of 'worth',
'contribution' and perceived 'value' of the individual in society.
Advantages
·
Managers can/should consider the needs and
aspirations of individual subordinates.
Disadvantages
·
The broad assumptions in 2 above have been
disproved by exceptions e.g. hungry, ill artist working in a garret.
·
Empirical research over the years has not
tended to support this theoretical model.
