The success of any business in today’s
competitive world mainly depends on the commitment and the performance of its
human capitol. Therefore, driving its workforce to its maximum potential to
achieve organizations goals and retaining such talent in the organization in
the long run is equally important for any business. Therefore, today’s business
continuously searches for ways and means of driving its workforce to its
maximum while retaining them for longer periods in their payroll (Hosseni, 2014).
It is a well-known fact that satisfied
employees contribute their maximum and are committed to achieving
organization’s goals and that their turnover intention is very low (Verma, 2017). Employee
satisfaction depends on various factors and that it is not easy to maintain the
satisfaction level constant without motivation. What motivates employees
changes constantly and thus it is very complex. (Alshamemri 2017).
Motivation is the driving force that will lead
people to achieve (Bedeian,1993). Employees get motivated by intrinsic
(internal) as well as extrinsic (external) factors. (Alshamemri, 2017). Intrinsic factors depend on the individual personality and it can be controlled
by the individual. Extrinsic factors depend on the external environment of the
employee and it can be influenced by the employer. Therefore, it is important
that organizations frame policies to motivate employees by identifying
extrinsic factors in its strategic HR plan if they are interested in minimizing
turnover in the organization. To have an understanding of the extrinsic factors
and its effects to employee motivation, it is important that the HR managers
study different motivational theories which are widely practiced today by
incorporating it into the HR strategy with a view of minimizing turnover.
Maslow’s need hierarchy theory
Abraham Maslow a phycologist became
renowned with his motivational theory that he published in 1943 named “A theory
of human motivation”. This theory is known as “Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
theory “and has been the subject of many researchers and discussions worldwide
since then.
According to his theory Maslow
bundled human needs in to 5 bundles as physiological, safety, social, esteem
and self-actualization and arranged according to a hierarchy. He stated that
humans are motivated to achieve these needs according to the hierarchy and will
be motivated to climb up in the pyramid when one need is fulfilled.
Figure 1 below show the pyramid of hierarchy
of Maslow.
Figure1
Source -
https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html.
Physiological
needs or the basic needs of a human such as
food, clothing and shelter are ranked as the most important and is places in
the bottom of the pyramid. Individuals will strive to satisfy these needs
before any other need as these are the basics to live. (Maslow 1943,1954.
cited in McLeod 2018).
Safety needs- Safety
needs refers to physical, environmental and emotional safety and protection. As
examples Job security, financial security, protection from animals, family
security, health security, etc. (Maslow 1943,1954. cited in McLeod 2018).
Social needs refer to the love and care; belongingness, friendships a person
search in living in the society. The need for interpersonal relationships
motivates an individual behavior. (Maslow 1943,1954. cited in McLeod
2018).
Esteem Needs Maslow categorized esteem needs into two categories as internal esteem
needs (self- respect, confidence, competence, achievement and freedom) and
external esteem needs (recognition, power, status, attention and admiration). (Maslow
1943,1954. cited in McLeod 2018).
Self-actualization
needs- This
include the urge to become what you are capable of becoming / realizing
personal potential. It includes the need for growth and self-contentment. It
also includes desire for gaining more knowledge, social- service, creativity
and being aesthetic. The self- actualization needs are never fully satiable. As
an individual grows psychologically, opportunities keep cropping up to continue
growing. (Maslow 1943,1954. cited in McLeod 2018).
We can relate the life of a Sri Lankan
youth to this model as an example to understand this more clearly. In Sri Lanka
when a youth completes his studies he will initially search for a job that
will at least allow them to meet their basic needs without depending on the
parents. In this instance they will not search for the most suited job, but
will search for a job that will give a salary at least to meet the basic needs. Once in the job they will search for a more fulfilling job to suite their
qualifications which will have more benefits than the salary. Here they
will search for a job which is secure in a reputed organization which will give
them health insurance, loans etc. which is the second level of the pyramid.
Once established in the job then they will
think of marriage, which is the 3rd level of the pyramid. (Social needs which
includes love and belonging). Once married a promotion in the job, a car for
prestige becomes needs which are esteem needs.
As stated earlier, Maslow initially stated
that an individual must satisfy lower level needs in the pyramid to progress to
higher levels, but later he clarified and moderated his earlier position in
1987 and stated that it is not necessary for a person to satisfy 100% to move
to the next level (Maslow 1987, cited in McLeod 2018).
Regarding
the structure of his hierarchy, Maslow (1987) proposed that the order in the
hierarchy “is not nearly as rigid” as he may have implied in his earlier
description. (Maslow 1987,
cited in McLeod 2018).
"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"
(Maslow, 1943,Maslow 1987, cited in McLeod 2018).
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. (Maslow 1987, cited in McLeod 2018).
Maslow (1987) also pointed out that most
behavior is multi-motivated and noted that “any behavior tends to be determined
by several or all of the basic needs simultaneously rather than by only one of
them” (Maslow 1987,
cited in McLeod 2018).
Studies conducted on Maslows’s theory have
proved that this theory could be applied globally across all cultures even
though his experiments were conducted in western countries and cultures.
(Taormina 2013).
The original five stage model of the hierarchy
of needs were expanded to include cognitive and aesthetic needs in 1970’s. (McLeod
2018).
- Alshmemri, M, Shahwan-Akl. L and Maude. P (2017). Hersberg’s Two Factor Theory. Life Science Journal 2017;14 (5). pp:12-16.
2. Bedeian, A.G.(1993). Management (3rd edn.). Dryden Press ,New York.
3. Hosseini,S.A.R (2014). Factors affecting employee motivation. Management and Administrative Sciences Review, Vol.3, Issue: 4 (Special Issue), pp: 713-723.
4. McLeod, S.A.(2018). Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html .(Accessed on 11th April 2022).
5. Toarmina,R.J. and Gao J.H (2013). Maslow and the Motivation Hierarchy: Measuring Satisfaction of the Needs. The American Journal of Psychology (2013)126 (2) pp 173. Available at https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/ajp/article-abstract/126/2/155/258006/Maslow-and-the-Motivation-Hierarchy-Measuring.( Accessed on 14th April 2022).
Agreed with the facts given by Maslow's Hierarchy of needs published in 1954 However, The need for self-fulfillment
ReplyDeletecan never be satisfied only an unsatisfied need can motivate behavior and the dominant need is the prime motivator of
behavior. Psychological development takes place
as people move up the hierarchy of needs, but this is
not necessarily a straightforward progression. The
lower needs still exist, even if temporarily dormant
as motivators, and individuals constantly return to
previously satisfying needs (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).
Yes, Maslow himself in 1987 stated that it is not necessary for the needs to be fulfilled according to the order in the pyramid. There could be instances where the higher levels of need being fulfilled either before the lower level of forgoing the lower levels altogether. As an example a hermit or a monk may choose to search self actualization before even fulfilling basic needs,
DeleteAdding 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 Krishan. Yes Maslow, himself stated in 1987 that it is not required to fulfill the hierarchy according to the order of the pyramid.
DeleteThank you for your comment Hasara. Yes, there is no measurement for satisfaction and also the level of satisfaction changes from person to person.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteKaur (2013) concludes that “background factors, altitudes and aspirations affects workers needs, expectations and situation assessment”. And there are generally three major criticisms directed to the need theory of motivation by Kenrick et al (2010).
ReplyDelete1. There is low empirical data to support their conclusions,
2. They assume employees are basically alike, but people's needs and hierachies are different from one another
3. Kenrick also says that Maslow's is not a theory of motivation, but a theory of job satisfaction. Job satisfaction and motivation are closely related yet two different areas.
Kenrick, D.T., Griskevicius, V., Neuberg, S.L. and Schaller, M., 2010. Renovating the pyramid of needs: Contemporary extensions built upon ancient foundations. Perspectives on psychological science, 5(3), pp.292-314.
Kaur, A., 2013. Maslow’s need hierarchy theory: Applications and criticisms. Global Journal of Management and Business Studies, 3(10), pp.1061-1064.
"Managers have the responsibility to create a proper climate in
ReplyDeletewhich employees can develop to their fullest potential. Failure to provide such a climate would theoretically increase employee frustration and could result in poorer performance, lower job satisfaction, and increased withdrawal from the organization” (Steers & Porter, 1983, p.32).
Yes Theekshana, any factor that would increase job dissatisfaction would lead the employee to leave the job. (Alshmemeri, 2017).
DeleteManagers and other organization leaders benefited from the implications of this theory. One implication was that businesses should develop support programs and focus groups to help employees cope with stress, particularly during difficult times, and take the time to understand their requirements (Kreitner, 1998). The implications for managerial actions become clear when the need hierarchy notion is applied to work for organizations. "It is the responsibility of managers to create an environment in which employees may reach their maximum potential. Failure to create such an environment might possibly raise employee dissatisfaction, leading to reduced performance, lower job satisfaction, and increasing disengagement from the company" (Steers & Porter, 1983, p.32).
ReplyDeleteRavindu, Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory is not only useful for managers but it is useful for every body to understand the human behavior.
DeleteEmployee motivation is not just to maintain the turnover but also there are other adverse effects of dissatisfaction like absenteeism, low performance, lower morale, low contribution to the team, less coordination, and less orientation towards organizational objectives that could affect the organization’s capacity to compete in the highly competitive business environment(VARMA, 2017).
ReplyDeleteYes Harshani, the main purpose of motivation is to increase the performance of employees so that the organizations can achieve its objectives (Verma,2017).
DeleteI agree with the above note and would like to mention that Maslow (1943) stated that people are motivated to achieve certain needs. When one need is fulfilled a person seeks to fulfil the next one, and so onIy would like consider about the drawbacks of this theory. From a scientific perspective there are numerous problems with this particular approach. First, it could be argued that biographical analysis as a method is extremely subjective as it is based entirely on the opinion of the researcher.
ReplyDeleteEven though 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. In addition, the same product or service can satisfy a number of needs at once, making the pyramid less effective (Rutledge, 2011).
Yes Piyumi. there are draw backs and shortcomings in Maslow's theory. But the original theory has been modified by Maslow himself several times from 1943 to 1987. As time passes by we may see other shortcomings of this theory, But it should be noted that considering the time period it was delivered it was a great theory.
ReplyDeleteMaslow cited in Mawere et al. (2016) explains, as people 'progress', their needs become increasingly psychological and social to the extent that the need for love, friendship, and intimacy become more important than any other needs.
ReplyDeleteHi Amal.. I agree with above. However, there are criticisms regarding above theory. Nadler & Lawler (1979), argue that the theory makes the following unrealistic assumptions about employees in general that; all employees are alike, all situations are alike and that and there is only one best way to meet needs.
ReplyDeleteGood point and one thing i would like to add here is, Strong and Harder (2009), emphasis motivation and sustenance factors increase employee satisfaction such as better salary, training, position, but organization must make sure these factors are sufficient. If not, then employees will leave the organization further, employee satisfaction increase organization turnover.
ReplyDelete