Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Motivation Theory
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow is a good starting point to start examining the different
motivation theories (Haque et al., 2014, 63). The philosophy of the model was that there are
five levels of needs for humans and each level needed to be fulfilled before
someone could be motivated by a higher level of needs (Ganta 2014). Figure 1 is a
graphical example of Maslow's Model
Maslow used the terms
Physiological, Safety, Belongingness,, and Love, Esteem, Self-Actualization, and
Self Transcendence needs to describe the pattern that human motivations
generally move through.
Figure: Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs
The pyramid begins from bottom to top. At the bottom of the pyramid are our physiological needs suchas food, water, sleep, and warmth. The safety calls next that include comfort, security, and stability.Moving up the pyramid, we come to social needs, such as a sense of belonging, friendship. Esteem needs include a positive self-image, prestige, and status. The pyramid ends up with self-actualization consisting of feeling fulfilled with growth, advancement, and creativity. The needs of a person should be met as per the lower to a higher level to increase the productivity of the Individual (Furnham et al, 1998).
Putting theory into the
Apparel Sector
I
work for one of the top ten leading garment manufacturer plants in apparel. How
could managers translate a theoretical tool into motivating, recruit and retaining
employees?
Physiological Needs - It is vital to set up a good salary scale, and it
should be on time. Most of the factories do not pay employees’ salaries on
time. Because of that company may lose talent in the workforce. The management
should provide a positive working environment that employees feel good about
coming to work every day. Other essential facilities such as free-of-charge
breakfast, half-paid lunch, and tea or coffee during breaks motivate employees.
Safety Needs - In consideration of the safety needs, the human resource
should introduce a life insurance facility deducting reasonable payment from
the monthly salary. Another aspect of safety in the workplace pertains to being
emotionally safe and supported. If an employee feels about losing his or her
job owing to layoff and budget cuts, it is more challenging to move to the next
level in the hierarchy and perform well in the job. In another aspect, the
company can organize medical health check-up camps for employees.
Love and Belonging - It is not always easy for operators to feel and form a good relationship at work. They may come from different family backgrounds, educational levels, and physiological levels. The company that hosts social activities such as motivational programs links to develop the thinking level and entertainment programs.
Esteem Needs - An employees in each department, it is essential that they feel they are growing, advancing, and achieving given targets. Employee enthusiasm drive-through recognizes those results. The company should put up in-house training centers. It will help to attract trainees who are looking for work in garment factories.
Self-Actualization - The final level is self-actualization, the lead
department in the factory cutting, sewing, packing, and quality individual
ultimately wants to feel that they are doing the best they can in their
position. The garment factory's ultimate goal is to deliver the good-quality
garments to the agreed date without any deviations.
Maslow's theories are just some of the elements that form how
an employee is a motive. Maslow's theories are just some of the elements that
form how an employee is a motive. This motivation tool remains essential, and
it can help HR professionals achieve many goals. It will help to improve
employee retention and employee engagement and thereby increase productivity.
List of References.
Gant, v.c., (2014) Motivation in
the workplace to improve the employee performance.
International journal engineering technology, management, and applied
science. Volume 2 issues 6.
Haque, M.F., Haque, M, A., Islam,MD.S (2014) Motivational theories A critical analysis. ASA University Review,
Vol. 8 No1.
Hi thiloka, agree with you, adding to your points, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is applied in psychology as well as in business, also helps to understand How to motivates people. The pyramid of five needs and according to Maslow’s theory. one of the main motivation for individuals towards improving performance is financial reward is money used to satisfy individual needs mainly for workers in production companies (Jerome2013).
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments Dineth. Maslow theorized that the lower-level needs to be satisfied before the next higher-level need would motivate an employee (Armstrong, 2010). The employer had to understand the employee belongs in which hierarchy of needs. Yes, we are as human beings work for money. But many other things too, such as achievement, recognition, advancement, growth, and responsibility.
DeleteWell said Thiloka. Maslow noted that the order of needs might be flexible based on external circumstances or individual differences. Further he notes that for some individuals, the need for self esteem is more important than the need for love (Dr. Saul McLeod, 2007).
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments Upeksha. The goal of Maslow’s theory is to attain the highest level of the stage. It is self-actualization needs (McEwen & Wills 2014). The pleasure from achievement, the exercise of personal skill, the acceptance of responsibility is focused upon by Maslow (1954) as factors fulfilling the self-esteem and actualization needs.
DeleteThiloka, I agree with you. An employee's initial focus should be on the lower order requirements of physiology and security, according to Maslow's theory. In general, a new employee will be concerned with physiological requirements like as adequate compensation and steady income, as well as security requirements such as benefits and a secure workplace (McLeod,2020). We all want to make enough money to support our families and work in a safe environment.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments Isuru. I agree with your view. The theory could be a tool in determining the kinds of rewards. It could be effective in motivating employees. The main idea is to recognize every employee as an individual. Managers need to remember that employees’ needs differ from time to time (Butkus & Green, 1999).
DeleteGreat article, Norwood (1999) proposed that Maslow's hierarchy can be used to describe the kinds of information individual's seek at different levels of development. For example, individuals at the lowest level seek coping information in order to meet their basic needs. Information that is not directly connected to helping a person meet his or her needs in a very short time span is simply left unattended.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments, Surangi. I agree with your view. The expectations of people can also be different from people in underdeveloped and developing countries (Gokce, 2010). Therefore, according to Maslow's theory (Maslow, 1954), it could be expected that people with low-income levels would be motivated more by financial factors.
DeleteHi Thiloka, While agreeing with your comments, Maslow (As cited by Koestner, 2021) states that in order to move to the next level of psychological development, a person must be satisfied in every way and that the characteristics of human life are satisfied when they can take advantage of psychology from where they are today. Motivation was defined as the desire to make high efforts to achieve specific goals (Acevedo, 2018).
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments Nirmika. I Agree with your view. Maslow’s theory on the hierarchy of needs is one of the most popular theories of motivation, and this forms one of the bases of the model for this study. A need is something that a person is required. Satisfaction occurs when a need is fulfilled, and motivation is the attempt to satisfy a need (Aldag & Kuzuhara, 2002).
DeleteGood explanation. 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 , 2009).
ReplyDeleteHi Thiloka, Well explained. Further to this would like to add the Maslow's hierarchy can be divided in to two sections as growth needs and deficiency needs which was explained by ( Noltemeyer, Bush, Patton and Bergen, 2012). Not only that but also it can be analyze as basic needs, psychological needs and self fulfilment needs according to (Hodge, Lonsdale and Ng, 2008) as well.
ReplyDeleteHi Thiloka, Maslow's theory asserts that humans are motivated by their internal needs program rather than external incentives such as reward and punishment. In other words, a person's motivation is driven by an employee's needs (Uysal, 2017).
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments, Janaka. I agree with your view. Employee motivation does not work the same way for each society's economic development level, and individual differences, because people are motivated by the meeting of predominantly unmet needs (Maslow, 1954).
DeleteVery good explanation Thiloka, adding to that Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a theory of psychology explaining human motivation based on the pursuit of different levels of needs. The theory states that humans are motivated to fulfill their needs in a hierarchical order. This order begins with the most basic needs before moving on to more advanced needs. The ultimate goal, according to this theory, is to reach the fifth level of the hierarchy: self-actualization.(CFI 2015)
ReplyDeleteHi Thiloka, agreed your points, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is applied in psychology as well as in business, and helps to understand what motivates people. The pyramid has five needs, and according to Maslow’s theory, a person does not feel needs above unless the needs in the bottom have been satisfied. (Jerome ,2013).
ReplyDeleteHi Thiloka. Well-written article. According to Greenberg & Baron (2003) Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory got prominent because of the practical and real-life implication it has for any organizational context. When the employees move up the hierarchy of needs, psychological development takes place, but this is not essentially a straightforward progression. (Armstrong & Taylor, 2020).
ReplyDeleteHi Thiloka, Agreed with you, Abraham Maslow presented his model of motivation in 1954. The basic idea of Maslow's model was that there are five levels of needs for humans and each level needed to be fulfilled before someone could be motivated by higher level factors, (Vinay, C. G. 2014).
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeletePsychologist 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.
McLeod, 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).
Hi Thiloka, interesting read. Whilst Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a widely accepted framework for understanding what drives human activity, Armstrong (2014) argues that there's not enough empirical evidence to accept this theory as an accurate one, as generalized statements about human needs can easily be incorrect when applied at an individual level. Hence, I'd add that managers need to mindful of the pitfalls of such generalisations as well.
ReplyDeleteHello Thiloka, Nicely explained, better understand what motivates human beings, Maslow proposed that human needs can be organized into a hierarchy. This hierarchy ranges from more concrete needs such as food and water to abstract concepts such as self-fulfillment. According to Maslow, when a lower need is met, the next need on the hierarchy becomes our focus of attention. (Ganta 2014).
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments Purnima. I agree with your view. Maslow emphasizes that none of the need could be fully gratified and that when a need is substantially satisfied, it ceases to be a motivator. It makes a person seek a higher level of need (Drummond, 2000).
DeleteHi Thiloka , Interesting article ,Armstrong further explained on this ‘Man is a wanting animal’;
ReplyDeleteonly an unsatisfied need can motivate behaviour and the dominant need is the prime motivator of
behaviour. Psychological development takes place as people move up the hierarchy of needs, but this is not necessarily a straightforward progression (Armstrong,2014)