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?

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

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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.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

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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

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

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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

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

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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.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

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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.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

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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.

H e r z b e r g ' s H y g i e n e a n d M o t i v a t i o n a l F a c t o r s

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

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

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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

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

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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).

M c G r e g o r ' s T h e o r y X a n d T h e o r y 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.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

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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.

A l d e r f e r ' s E x i s t e n c e / R e l a t e d n e s s / G r o w t h

( E R G )

Clayton Alderfer's (1969) Existence/Relatedness/Growth (ERG) Theory of Needs

postulates that there are three groups of needs:

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

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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.

V r o o m ' s E x p e c t a n c y T h e o r y

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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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.

R e f e r e n c e s

- http://ezinearticles.com/?Motivation---Applying-Maslows-Hierarchy-of-Needs-

Theory&id=4139037

- http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadhb.html