ABRAHAM MASLOW HIERARCHY NEEDS One of the many interesting things Maslow noticed while he worked with monkeys

early in his career, was that some needs take precedence over others. For example, if you are hungry and thirsty, you will tend to try to take care of the thirst first. After all, you can do without food for weeks, but you can only do without water for a couple of days! Thirst is a stronger need than hunger. Likewise, if you are very thirsty, but someone has put a choke hold on you and you cant breathe, which is more important? The need to breathe, of course. Maslow took this idea and created his now famous hierarchy of needs, they are:

The physiological needs: These include the needs we have for oxygen, water, protein, salt, sugar, calcium, and other minerals and vitamin The safety and security needs: People will become increasingly interested in finding safe circumstances, stability and protection. You might develop a need for structure, for order, some limits The love and belonging needs: Individuals begin to feel the need for friends, a sweetheart, children; affectionate relationships in general, even a sense of community. Looked at negatively, you become increasing susceptible to loneliness and social anxieties The esteem needs: two versions of esteem needs, a lower and a higher one:

a. The lower one is the need for the respect of others, the need for status, fame, glory, recognition, attention, reputation, appreciation, dignity, even dominance. b. The higher form involves the need for self-respect, including such feelings as confidence, competence, achievement, mastery, independence, and freedom Self-actualization: These are needs that do not involve balance or homeostasis (remaining stable / same. Once engaged, they continue to be felt. In fact, they are likely to become stronger as we feed them! They involve the continuous desire to fulfill potentials, to be all that you can be. They are a matter of becoming the most complete, the fullest, you -- hence the term, self-actualization. Implication for Management: There are opportunities to motivate employees through management style, job, design, company events, and compensation packages: some examples of which are as follows: Physiological needs: Provide lunch breaks, rest breaks and wages that are sufficient to purchase the essential of life. Safety and security needs: Provide a sage working environment, retirement benefits, and job security. Love and belonging needs: Create a sense of community via team-based projects and social. Esteem needs: Recognize achievements to make employees feel appreciated and valued. Offer job titles that convey the importance of the position. Self-actualization needs: Provide employees a challenge and the opportunity to reach their full career potential However, not all people are driven by the same needs - at any time different people may be motivated by entirely different factors. It is important to understand the needs being pursued by each employee. To motivate an employee, the manager must be able to recognize the needs level at which the employee is operating, and use those needs as levers of motivation. Limitation of Maslows Hierarchy needs theory: There is little evidence to support its hierarchical aspects for e.g., some culture appears to place social needs before any other s. Maslows hierarchy needs lack scientific support Another point is that he asks that we pretty much take care of our lower needs before self-actualization comes to the forefront. And yet we can find many

examples of people who exhibited at very least aspects of self-actualization who were far from having their lower needs taken care of. Eg., Many of our best artists and authors, If you think about Galileo, who prayed for ideas that would sell, or Rembrandt, who could barely keep food on the table if you know what I mean... Werent these people engaged in some form of self-actualization?