Motivation & Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.
There are many conflicting theories which attempt to explain the nature of motivation. While all are partially true, there can be no one definitive solution as individuals are primarily self-motivated. However, managers can indeed use them to their advantage by deciding upon their relevance and how best to apply them in the workplace. All managers have a duty to motivate and a start to this is by providing direction and the right working environment. The search for the holy grail of motivation has been endless, from F.W. Taylor's Scientific Management, the Hawthorn Studies, and Maslow's Hierarchy of needs to name but a few. While these various theories are not nessaccarily conclusive, they do provide a useful framework of ideas and direction, which managers can draw upon.
Maslow's work of the theory of the individual and motivation was first published in 1943. His basic proposition was that we are all wanting beings and that what we want is determined by what we already want. He suggests that we all have five innate needs, which can be aligned in a hierarchy of importance. This hierarchy is often displayed in the form of pyramid, which is appropriate as it suggests the thinning out of needs as we progress up the hierarchy. These needs can be classified as Lower Order and Higher Order - the higher order being more relevant to the workplace. Maslow's hierarchy of needs can be summarized as follows:.
(Lower Order).
Physiological Needs These are the individual's basic need to satisfy hunger, thirst sleep etc.
Safety Needs To be freedom from pain and emotional hurt, deprivation to have stability and orderliness.
Social needs The need for affection, friendship, belonging, and social inclusion.
(Higher Order).
Esteem Needs Self respect (through confidence, independence, achievement, strength), recognition and appreciation.
Self-Actualisation Needs The realization and achievement of one's full potential.
Motivation. ... Speaking from a business perspective, Maslow's theory has a lot of truth. ... However, Maslow's theory falls short because not everyone is driven by the same needs. ... Some world cultures place social needs ahead of anything else and Maslow's theory doesn't acknowledge this. ... Maslow's theory has been acknowledged as the most well-known and recognized theory of motivation. ...
Many theories have been developed in an attempt to deal with these specific issues related to motivation. ... In classifying motivational theories, one can broadly divide them into content, process, and reinforcement theories. ... CONTENT THEORIES OF MOTIVATION Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs In the early 1940s one researcher, Dr Abraham Maslow, identified certain human needs and ranked them in order of satisfaction (Ibbetson and Whitmore, 1977: 16). ... Alderfer's ERG Theory Alderfer's theory is similar to Maslow's except that it condenses Maslow's hierarchy in...
Abraham Maslow projected a general overview of human motivation. His theory strikes a distinctive sense of balance between biological and social needs that integrates many motivational concepts. ... Maslow was correct when he said that one need has to be fulfilled before we can move to the next one. ... In essence, Maslow theory has been influential in the development of my personality. The hierarchy of needs gives his theory a tremendous plasticity to organize what is known about people's behavior. ...
I begin with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory. Abraham Maslow stated that every human has five specific needs that need to be satisfied, but this theory was mainly based upon Americans. ... Maslow stated a very powerful statement, "A satisfied need creates no motivation." ... Another theory of motivation is McClelland's Theory of Needs. ... Freud is another motivation theory. ...
Maslow, in his hierarchy of needs theory he had specifically implied that individuals are motivated by their desire to satisfy certain specific needs. ... According to Maslow's theory, unsatisfied needs are the prime motivators of behaviors, and needs at the lowest levels are of the hierarchy take precedence over the needs at higher levels. ... Firstly Maslow's progression of needs up the hierarchy is based on the satisfaction of lower needs. ... In the third stage of the Alderfer's theory, we find that neither the salary nor working conditions play an important role in the moti...
Motivation theories: No end of human psychologists has tried to understand motivation and try to find out the factors that are involved in it. ... Maslow's need-hierarchy theory is about: 1. ... Maslow's theory states that people starts about thinking higher needs when lower ones have been satisfied. The main issue of Maslow's theory is concerning the length of time elapsing between higher need appearance and lower need satisfaction. ... Thwarted needs become less important to satisfy unlike what Maslow's theory suggests. ...
Motivation, Theories and Principles Motivation is a way in which we gear our selves or to reach a goal, or to reach success. ... There are many theories that have been developed on human motivation. ... The two theorists that I will relate my own motivation factors to are; Maslows Hierarchy of Needs and Herzberg's motivation Hygiene theory. ... Herzberg's findings were based on motivational theories within an organisation. ... Herzberg's theory is not a motivational theory, but a theory that focuses on the working con...
Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory and implications Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory is one of the content theories of motivation which attempt to explain motivation in terms of what arouses and energizes behavior (McKenna, 2000). ... Maslow's theory can help managers to identify the needs of professional workers and contingent workers. ... Even though there is a difference between Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory and McClelland's theory, both of them advocate that the effective way of motivation is to satisfy different people's different needs. 6. ...
In the early theories of motivation there are three theories: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, McGregor's Theories X and Y, and Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory. ... The first reason is they represent the foundation from which contemporary motivation theories were developed. ... One of the early theories of motivation is the Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory which is the best known theory of motivation. ... Understand from a viewpoint of motivation Maslow's Theory proposed that although no need is ever fully satisfied. ... During the 1960s and 1970s, Maslow's...