Figure 1.0 gives some examples of how top managers can use Maslow’s theory to better meet the needs of their workers. Accordingly, higher-level self-actualization requirements are satisfied entirely by intrinsic rewards. Further, esteem needs are satisfied by both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Lower-level requirements are served by extrinsic rewards (Schermerhorn, 2001).
Figure1.0: Opportunities for Satisfaction in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs
Source: Schermerhorn, 2001
Figure 2.0: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Pyramid
Source: Ashkanasy et al., 2014
Application of Maslow's hierarchy of needs in the organization
Physiological needs, it is generally agreed that the basic needs such as food, water, warmth, clothing, and shelter are our first concern (Baard et al., 2004). Accordingly, the leading IT organization I work for, helps individuals to satisfy their basic requirements by providing sufficient monthly salary, benefits, bonuses and positive working conditions. Further, as per Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, the company can implement an incentive system for the sales team based on their performance. Also lower-level employees can be motivated by providing a housing loan system, year-end gift vouchers to buy clothes and scholarships for their children. Once these basic requirements are satisfied to a reasonable percentage, the individual then becomes aware of top-level needs (Bakker, 2011).
Once the physiological needs are reasonably well satisfied, the next higher level of needs which is safety needs becomes important as a motivator. According to Maslow theory, these are the needs for safety or security (Bartel and Garud 2009). Accordingly, these needs cause the worker to become concerned about security, protection from danger, and freedom from fear.
Thus, in my workplace, these needs are satisfied by job security, benefit programs including health insurance and retirement plans, and safe working conditions. Further, since this is a leading IT company that provides services, the company can arrange special health insurance than regular health insurance for those who are involved in civil work. Therefore, in an emergency situation or accident a special health insurance scheme can be used.
The next level is social needs and these needs reflect an individual’s desire for affiliation, love, and acceptance in relationship with other workers (Bishop, 2004). Therefore, in my workplace, social needs are concerned with relating to friendly associates and working environment, identification with a good company, and participation in organized group activities such as get-togethers or year-end parties.
Furthermore, our company can organize special group activity events not only for employees but also their family members specially for kids. Also, special days of the year calendar such as children's day and women's day can be celebrated by offering gifts for employees or providing gift vouchers.
The next level, which is esteem needs, represents the individual’s concern for feeling important and respected by other co-workers (Blair, 2015). Therefore, esteem needs are related to achievement, recognition, and lifestyle and job status. Further, employees seek approval and recognition from top managers and other colleagues. Such needs are fulfilled and identified as job title and responsibilities, praise, and competent management in my current workplace.
The highest level of needs, which is self-actualization, becomes important once esteem needs are reasonably well satisfied (Blanchard and Stoner 2004). Self-actualization also known as self-fulfilment which is the need to realize one’s capacities and potentialities by achieving specific aims and goals (Blanchard and Stoner 2004).
The leading IT organization I work for currently satisfies this level by providing challenging work assignments and projects that allow for creativity and great opportunities for the personal growth and career advancement of employees.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs is further explained in video 1.0. According to video 1.0 human behaviour is driven by needs and those needs are pursued in a hierarchical way.
Video 1.0: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Source: Alanis Business Academy, 2012
An employee is never completely satisfied on any need level, but an adequate amount of fulfilment of lower priority needs must be met if the employee is to seek to satisfy top-level needs (Bordia et al., 2004). Maslow stated a hypothetical example for an average employee who is 85 percent fulfilled in physiological needs, 70 percent in safety requirements, 50 percent in love needs, 40 percent in the self-esteem level, and 10 percent in self-actualization level (Bounckenet al., 2018).
Reference
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Appel-Meulenbroek, R., Groenen, P., & Janssen, I. (2011). An end-User's perspective on activity-based office concepts. Journal of Corporate Real Estate, 13(2), 122–135.
Ashkanasy, N. M., Ayoko, O. B., & Jehn, K. A. (2014). Understanding the physical environment of work and employee behavior: An affective events perspective. Journal of Organisational Behavior, 35(8), 1169–1184.
Baard, P. P., Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2004). Intrinsic need satisfaction: A motivational basis of performance and well-being in two work settings. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 34(1), 2045–2068
Bakker, A. B. (2011). An evidence-based model of work engagement. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20(4), 265–269.
Bartel, C. A., & Garud, R. (2009). The role of narratives in sustaining Organisational innovation. Organization Science, 20(1), 107–117.
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Bordia, P., Hunt, E., Paulsen, N., Tourish, D., & DiFonzo, N. (2004). Uncertainty during Organisational change: Is it all about control? European Journal of Work and Organisational Psychology, 13(3), 345–365.
Bouncken, R. B., Aslam, M. M., & Reuschl, A. J. (2018). The dark side of entrepreneurship in Coworking-spaces. In A. Tur Porcar & D. Ribeiro Soriano (Eds.), Inside the mind of the entrepreneur (pp. 135–147). London: Springer.
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Udechukwu, I.I., (2009). Correctional Officer Turnover: Of Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy And Herzberg’s Motivation Theory, Public Personnel Management, Volume 38 No.2, 69-82.
Hi dileep, agreed on your points, adding to this organization success depend on employees behavior and output (von Rosenstiel, 2011). Maslow"s needs of hierarchy argue that there are five stages of employee needs that motivate behavior. it is the best way to motivate and high engage the employees to the organization(Padmavathy 2017).
ReplyDeleteYes Dineth. Further, according to Bordia (2004) a worker is never completely satisfied on any need level of the Maslow's hierarchy of needs pyramid, but an adequate amount of fulfilment of lower needs must be fulfilled if the worker is to seek to satisfy top-level needs.
DeleteI agree with all the above points as they are all valid. According to Smith & Cronje (1992), Maslow’s theory is explained relies on the fact that people want to increase what they want to achieve in life, and their needs are prioritised according to their importance. I work for a leading bank in the financial sector. Once a person’s basic psychological and safety requirements are addressed, the theory states that they will develop a desire to belong, get respect, and eventually realise their full potential. The last stage has the potential to have a negative impact on a bank’s bottom line. While top management ensures that a bank’s process for opening savings accounts is efficient and uses cutting-edge technology, a bank employee will almost certainly be involved at some stage.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your valuable comment on my blog Nirmika,
DeleteEmployees will be more efficient and effective in their work and can be motivated by managers if they look for Maslow’s theory. Managers developed employees’ motivation when they applied useful guidelines. There were more differentiations on the relations between culture, ethnicity, and motivation (McDougall, W ., 2003).
Hi Dileep, Adding more to the post, Maslow assumes that there are several prerequisites for meeting these needs. For example, having the independence of speech and expression, or living in a fair and equitable society, is not specifically mentioned in the hierarchy of needs. However, Maslow believes that having these things makes it easier for people to meet their needs. Although Maslow puts forward his own needs in the hierarchy, he also acknowledges that satisfying each need is not a complete or no phenomenon. Therefore, people do not need to fully meet the next requirement in the hierarchy(Goyal, 2012).
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. Maslow theory explains “when jobs are readily available, pay is adequate, and there is degree of job security, deficiency needs are easily satisfied” (Fincham et al. page 197). As deficiency needs are fulfilled by an employer, the progression in the hierarchy is essential this is because when physiological and security needs are met, this will make social needs an extremely important motivator. Firstly deficiency needs must be met in order to motivate employees (Alajmi and Alasousi, 2019).
DeleteHi Dileep, Adding more to your points, Many theories have been propounded to examine the factors that contribute to employee motivation in organizations. These theories are important because they provide explanations to the reasons why employees are motivated, therefore, if properly applied, could lead to having better motivated employees which ultimately may lead to increased productivity in organizations (McCullagh, 2005). From the theories that various scholars have explained, Maslow's hierarchy of needs is important because of the practical implications it has for every management of organizations (Greenberg & Baron, 2003).
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment Gihan. There are two types of motivational theories, process and content theory. Maslow was extremely clear to emphasize that organizations should, within reasons carry out all they can to satisfy the needs of all levels in an organization; whether considering teams, departments, or individuals (Fincham et. al, 2005).
DeleteHi Dileepa, Adding more to your points, Maslow's model offers a number of benefits into understanding human needs, Kunchala (2017) says since there is no empirical value to measure one's satisfaction of a level, employers would find it difficult to gauge the level of satisfaction of an employee.
ReplyDeleteHi Amila. Thanks for adding more points to my blog. Individuals have a tendency to be uninspired by repetitive and lack of variety in work, consequently, the team leader can motivate their team using Maslow and Hertzberg’s theory of motivation. There are many ways and methods of motivating employees, one example rotating roles between individuals will result in a significantly high motivation (Bartel and Garud 2009).
DeleteYes. Dileep, The capacity to recognize needs and ensure that those needs are met in a favorable way can help you succeed. When you are comfortable, supported, have a sense of belonging, and are self-actualized at work, your attitude may impact those around you. Because motivation and engagement are typically group-based attitudes, a group of people who believe their needs are being met can help to create a more positive, engaging workplace culture (Kulhar, 2011).
ReplyDeleteHi Isuru. This theory states that humans are motivated by needs which are in hierarchical order from basic to higher-order needs; humans address these sequentially starting with physiological, security, affiliation, esteem, and topmost self-actualization (Adler and Gundersen, 2008).
DeletePsychologist Abraham Maslow`s original five-stage model has been expanded twice to include cognitive needs, aesthetic needs (Maslow, 1970a)and transcendence needs (Maslow, 1970b)under growth needs. These needs are also important to consider in developing motivational strategies.
ReplyDeleteMcLeod, S., 2007. Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Simply psychology, 1(1-18).McLeod, S., 2007. Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Simply psychology, 1(1-18).
Definitely yes. The first and most fundamental layer of the permit is that of physiological needs. These are considered to be basic needs and comprise aspects such as food and water, shelter, and rest. Maslow’s theory holds and has been supported by many other scholars (Lussier, 2019).
DeleteHi Dileep, Agree with you. Further the Maslow's hierarchy of needs can be categorized in to two as growth needs and deficiency needs (McLeod, 2007), where under deficiency need the physiological needs, safety needs, love and belongings and self esteem needs will categorized and self actualization only stands for growth needs (Noltemeyer, James, Bush, Bergen, Barrios and Patton, 2021).
ReplyDeleteAgree with your comment on my blog post. Physiological needs are the first and the most important that a person requires such as food, shelter, and clothes but are not limited to this. They are those needs that must be met for life to be bearable (Deckers, 2009).
DeleteWell written article Dileep, based on Maslows hierarchy of needs we can focus on level of motivation align with organizational strategies. When a lower need is satisfied the next highest becomes dominant and the individual’s attention is turned to satisfying the higher need. The need for self fulfillment however can never be satisfied( Armstrong,2014).
ReplyDeleteAgreed with your comment Manoj. Maslow noted that the order of needs might be flexible based on external circumstances or individual differences. For example, he notes that for some individuals, the need for self-esteem is more important than the need for love. For others, the need for creative fulfillment may supersede even the most basic needs (Ashkanasy et al., 2014).
DeleteAdding on to your discussion on Maslow's hierarchical needs, the priority order in which employees would rate their needs would differ across different organizations. For example, Lindner (1998) compares the findings on his own study with the research done by Kovach (1987) and Harpaz (1990) - the order in which the employees ranked their needs varied across the three studies, confirming the differences in employee priorities.
ReplyDelete