1. Organizational
Behavior Module
Assignment 1:
Explain what "Maslow's Hierarchy of
Needs" is and how it can be applied in
relation to employee's motivation.
Discuss the theories that support and the
theories that criticize Maslow's theory.
What is your personal opinion and
analysis of this theory?

2. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
The basis of Maslow's theory of motivation is that human beings are motivated by
unsatisfied needs, and that certain lower needs need to be satisfied before higher
needs can be addressed. Per the teachings of Abraham Maslow, there are general
needs (physiological, safety, love, and esteem) which have to be fulfilled before a
person is able to act unselfishly. These needs were dubbed "deficiency needs." While a
person is motivated to fulfill these basal desires, they continue to move toward growth,
and eventually self-actualization. The satisfaction of these needs is quite healthy. While
preventing their gratification makes us ill or act evilly.
As a result, for adequate workplace motivation, it is important that leadership
understands the active needs active for individual employee motivation. In this
manner, Maslow's model indicates that fundamental, lower-order needs like safety and
physiological requirements have to be satisfied in order to pursue higher-
level motivators along the lines of self-fulfillment. As depicted in the
following hierarchical diagram, sometimes called 'Maslow's Needs Pyramid' or
'Maslow's Needs Triangle', after a need is satisfied it stops acting as a motivator and the
next need one rank higher starts to motivate.
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3. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
The psychologist Abraham Maslow developed a theory that suggests we, humans, are
motivated to satisfy five basic needs. These needs are arranged in a hierarchy. Maslow
suggests that we seek first to satisfy the lowest level of needs. Once this is done, we
seek to satisfy each higher level of need until we have satisfied all five needs. While
modern research shows some shortcomings with this theory, Maslow's Hierarchy of
Needs Theory remains an important and simple motivation tool for managers to
understand and apply. The Hierarchy of Needs is as follows:
1. Physiological Needs (basic issues of survival such as salary and stable employment)
2. Security Needs (stable physical and emotional environment issues such as benefits,
pension, safe work environment, and fair work practices)
3. "Belongingness" Needs (social acceptance issues such as friendship or cooperation
on the job)
4. Esteem Needs (positive self-image and respect and recognition issues such as job
titles, nice work spaces, and prestigious job assignments.)
5. Self-Actualization Needs (achievement issues such as workplace autonomy,
challenging work, and subject matter expert status on the job)
With Maslow's theory, an employee's beginning emphasis on the lower order needs of
physiology and security makes sense. Generally, a person beginning their career will be
very concerned with physiological needs such as adequate wages and stable income
and security needs such as benefits and a safe work environment. We all want a good
salary to meet the needs of our family and we want to work in a stable environment.
Employees whose lowest level needs have not been met will make job decisions based
on compensation, safety, or stability concerns. Also, employees will revert to satisfying
their lowest level needs when these needs are no longer met or are threatened (such as
during an economic downturn).
This places an extra obligation on managers to act humanely when difficult
organizational decisions such as staff reductions have to be implemented. Callous
implementation of difficult decisions will cause the remaining employees in the
organization to feel threatened about the ability or desire of the organization to continue
to meet their physiological and security needs.
Once these basic needs are met, the employee will want his "belongingness" (or social)
needs met. The level of social interaction an employee desires will vary based on
whether the employee is an introvert or extrovert. The key point is that employees
desire to work in an environment where they are accepted in the organization and have
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4. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
some interaction with others. This means effective interpersonal relations are
necessary.
Managers can create an environment where staff cooperation is rewarded. This will
encourage interpersonal effectiveness. Ongoing managerial communication about
operational matters is also an important component of meeting employee's social
needs. Employees who are "kept in the dark" about operational matters and the future
plans of the organization often feel like they are an organizational outsider. (This last
point is especially important for virtual employees whose absence from the office puts
an extra obligation on managers to keep these employees engaged in organizational
communications.)
With these needs satisfied, an employee will want his higher level needs of esteem and
self-actualization met. Esteem needs are tied to an employee's image of himself and his
desire for the respect and recognition of others. Even if an individual does not want to
move into management, he probably does not want to do the same exact work for 20
years. He may want to be on a project team, complete a special task, learn other tasks
or duties, or expand his duties in some manner. Cross-training, job enrichment, and
special assignments are popular methods for making work more rewarding. Further,
allowing employees to participate in decision making on operational matters is a
powerful method for meeting an employee's esteem needs. Finally, symbols of
accomplishment such as a meaningful job title, job perks, awards, a nice office,
business cards, work space, etc. are also important to an employee's esteem. The
important consideration for managers is that they must provide rewards to their
employees that both come from the organization and from doing the work itself.
Rewards need to be balanced to have a maximum effect.
With self-actualization, the employee will be interested in growth and individual
development. He will also need to be skilled at what he does. He may want a
challenging job, an opportunity to complete further education, increased freedom from
supervision, or autonomy to define his own processes for meeting organizational
objectives. At this highest level, managers focus on promoting an environment where an
employee can meet his own self-actualization needs.
The basic idea of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is that our needs are constantly
changing. As one need is met, we desire other needs. This makes sense. Will the raise
we received 3 years ago motivate us for the next 10 years? Will the challenging job we
began 5 years ago have the same effect on us today? Will the performance award we
received last year completely satisfy our need for recognition for the rest of our lives?
The answers to all of these questions is clearly, no. This is the beauty of Maslow's
theory of motivation. Employee needs change with time. This means that managers
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5. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
must continually adapt to employees' changing needs if they want to keep their
workforce motivated. Maslow understood these truths!
Maslow's theory has often been criticized because we can find exceptions to it, such as
the military, police, firefighters, etc. who will risk their safety for the well-being of others
or parents who will sacrifice their basic needs for their children. However, there are very
few theories that are not flawed in that once we start drilling down to individualistic
levels, then the theory or generalization often starts to fall apart. For example, even
Newton's theory of physics, which later became laws, fell apart once we were able to
drill down to the atomic level.
Maslow's theory remains a classic because rather than looking at psychology as strictly
the study of the mentally ill, his theory was based upon healthy persons. And being one
of the first humanistic ones, it has its share of flaws.
In Maslow's (1971) later years, he become more interested in the higher order or met
needs and tried to further distinguish them. Maslow theorized that the ultimate goal of
life is self-actualization, which is almost never fully attained but rather is something we
try to always strive for.
He later theorized that this level does not stop; it goes on to self-transcendence, which
carries us to the spiritual level, e.g. Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Dalai Lama, or even
poets, such as Robert Frost. Maslow's self-transcendence level recognizes the human
need for ethics, creativity, compassion and spirituality. Without this spiritual or
transgenic sense, we are simply animals or machines.
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6. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
This expansion of the higher order needs is shown here:
Note that the four meta needs (above the inner pyramid) can be pursued in any order,
depending upon a person's wants or circumstances, as long as the basic needs have all
been met:
8. Self-transcendence — a transgenic level that emphasizes visionary intuition, altruism,
and unity consciousness.
7. Self-actualization — knows exactly who you are, where you are going, and what you
want to accomplish. A state of well-being
6. Aesthetic — to do things not simply for the outcome but because it's the reason you
are here on earth — at peace, more curious about the inner workings of all things.
5. Cognitive — to be free of the good opinion of others — learning for learning alone,
contribute knowledge.
4. Esteem — feeling of moving up in world, recognition, few doubts about self.
3. Belongingness and love — belong to a group, close friends to confide with.
2. Safety — feels free from immediate danger.
1. Physiological — food, water, shelter, sex.
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7. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
In addition, just as in his earlier model, we may be in a state of flux — we shift between
levels (Maslow, 1968). For example there may be peak experiences for temporary self-
actualizations and self-transcendence. These are our spiritual or creative moments.
Going Beyond Maslow
While the research of Maslow's theory has undergone limited empirical scrutiny, it still
remains quite popular due to its simplicity and being the start of the movement away
from a totally behaviorist/reductionist/mechanistic approach to a more humanistic one.
In addition, a lot of concerns are directed at his methodology in that he picked a small
number of people that he declared self-actualizing and came to the conclusion about
self-actualization. However, he understood this and thought of his work as simply a
method of pointing the way, rather than being the final say. In addition, he hoped that
others would take up the cause and complete what he had begun.
This brings us to the next models. Other researchers have taken up his cause and
furthered refined them, mostly in the area of organizations and work. Herzberg, Alderfer,
and McGregor's research are all closely tied to Maslow's theory.
Herzberg's Hygiene and Motivational Factors
Frederick Herzberg was considered one of the most influential management consultants
and professors of the modern postwar era. Herzberg was probably best known for his
challenging thinking on work and motivation. He was considered both an icon and
legend among visionaries such as Abraham Maslow, Peter Drucker, and Douglas
MacGregor.
Herzberg (1966) is best known for his list of
factors that are based on Maslow's Hierarchy
of Needs, except his version is more closely
related to the working environment:
HERZBERG'S HYGIENE & MOTIVATIONAL
FACTORS
Hygiene or Dissatisfies:
 Working conditions
 Policies and administrative practices
 Salary and Benefits
 Supervision
 Status
 Job security
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8. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
 Co-workers
 Personal life
Motivators or Satisfiers:
 Recognition
 Achievement
 Advancement
 Growth
 Responsibility
 Job challenge
Hygiene or dissatisfies factors must be present in the job before motivators can be used
to stimulate a person. That is, you cannot use motivators until all the hygiene factors are
met. Herzberg's needs are specifically job related and reflect some of the distinct things
that people want from their work as opposed to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs which
reflect all the needs in a person's life.
Building on this model, Herzberg coined the term job enrichment — the process of
redesigning work in order to build in motivators by increasing both the number of tasks
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9. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
that an employee performs and the control over those tasks. It is associated with the
design of jobs and is an extension of job enlargement (an increase in the number of
tasks that an employee performs).
McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y
Douglas McGregor (1957) developed a philosophical view of humankind with his Theory
X and Theory Y — two opposing perceptions about how people view human behavior at
work and organizational life. McGregor felt that organizations and the managers within
them followed either one or the other approach:
Theory X
People have an inherent dislike for work and will avoid it whenever possible.
People must be coerced, controlled, directed, or threatened with punishment in order to
get them to achieve the organizational objectives.
People prefer to be directed, do not want responsibility, and have little or no ambition.
People seek security above all else.
In an organization with Theory X assumptions, management's role is to coerce and
control employees.
Theory Y
Work is as natural as play and rest.
People will exercise self-direction if they are committed to the objectives (they are NOT
lazy).
Commitment to objectives is a function of the rewards associated with their
achievement.
People learn to accept and seek responsibility.
Creativity, ingenuity, and imagination are widely distributed among the population.
People are capable of using these abilities to solve an organizational problem.
People have potential.
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10. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
In an organization with Theory Y assumptions, management's role is to develop the
potential in employees and help them to release that potential towards common goals.
Theory X is the view that traditional management has taken towards the workforce.
Most organizations are now taking the enlightened view of theory Y (even though they
might not be very good at it). A boss can be viewed as taking the theory X approach,
while a leader takes the theory Y approach.
Notice that Maslow, Herzberg, and McGregor's theories all tie together:
Herzberg's theory is a micro version of Maslow's theory that is focused in the work
environment.
McGregor's Theory X is based on workers caught in the lower levels (1 to 3) of
Maslow's theory due to bad management practices, while his Theory Y is for workers
who have gone above level 3 with the help of management.
McGregor's Theory X is also based on workers caught in Herzberg's Hygiene
Dissatisfies, while Theory Y is based on workers who are in the Motivators or Satisfiers
section.
Alderfer's Existence/Relatedness/Growth
(ERG)
Clayton Alderfer's (1969) Existence/Relatedness/Growth (ERG) Theory of Needs
postulates that there are three groups of needs:
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11. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Existence - This group of needs is concerned with providing the basic requirements for
material existence, such as physiological and safety needs. This need is satisfied by
money earned in a job so that one may buy food, shelter, clothing, etc.
Relationships - This group of needs centers upon the desire to establish and maintain
interpersonal relationships. Since people normally spend approximately half of their
waking hours on the job, this need is normally satisfied to some degree by their
coworkers.
Growth - These needs are met by personal development. A person's job, career, or
profession provides significant satisfaction of growth needs.
Alderfer's ERG theory states that more than one need may be influential at the same
time. If the gratification of a higher-level need is frustrated, the desire to satisfy a lower-
level need will increase. He identifies this phenomenon as the "frustration & shy
aggression dimension." Its relevance on the job is that even when the upper-level needs
are frustrated, the job still provides for the basic physiological needs upon which one
would then be focused. If, at that point, something happens to threaten the job, the
person's basic needs are significantly threatened. If there are no factors present to
relieve the pressure, the person may become desperate and panicky.
Notice that Alderfer's ERG theory is built upon Maslow's, however it does differ. First he
collapses it from five needs to three. And unlike Maslow, he did not see these needs as
being a hierarchy in which one climbs up, but rather being more of a continuum:
While there has not been a lot of research on Alderfer's theory, most contemporary
theories and related studies tend to give it stronger support than Maslow's theory.
Vroom's Expectancy Theory
Vroom's Expectancy Theory (1964)states that an individual will act in a certain way
based on the expectation (belief) that the act will be followed by a given outcome and
on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual. This motivational model has
been modified by several people, to include Porter and Lawler (1968). Vroom's
Expectancy Theory is written as a formula:
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12. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Valence x Expectancy x Instrumentality = Motivation
Valence (Reward) = the amount of desire for a goal (What is the reward?)
Expectancy (Performance) = the strength of belief that work related effort will result in
the completion of the task (How hard will I have to work to reach the goal?)
Instrumentality (Belief) = the belief that the reward will be received once the task is
completed (Will they notice the effort I put forth?)
The product of valence, expectancy, and instrumentality is motivation. It can be thought
of as the strength of the drive towards a goal. For example, if an employee wants to
move up through the ranks, then promotion has a high valence for that employee. If the
employee believes that high performance will result in good reviews, then the employee
has a high expectancy. However, if the employee believes the company will not
promote from within, then the employee has low instrumentality, and the employee will
not be motivated to perform better.
And my personal opinion regarding Maslow theory that it support and change the
management style in many fields but the main criticize was the needs limitation which
solved in the updated theory dated 1971.
References
- http://ezinearticles.com/?Motivation---Applying-Maslows-Hierarchy-of-Needs-
Theory&id=4139037
- http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadhb.html
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