Maslow's hierarchy of needs for employee motivation and engagement

 

As cited in (Koltko-Rivera, 2006), Haggbloom et al. (2002) mentioned that Abraham H. Maslow (1908–1970) was arguably one of the most important psychologists of modern times. In a recent survey, Maslow was found to be the 14th-most-frequently cited psychologist in introductory psychology textbooks; on the basis of various indicators, some researchers proclaimed Maslow as the 10th most eminent psychologist of the 20th century. 

Motivation is the most important matter for every organization public or a private sector. For the success of any organization motivation play an important role (Zameer, et al., 2014). Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory in psychology anticipated by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation". (Jerome, 2013). 

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory in psychology comprising a five-tier model of human needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid. From the bottom of the hierarchy upwards, the needs are: physiological (food and clothing), safety (job security), love and belonging needs (friendship), esteem, and self-actualization (McLeod, 2020).

Figure 1 - Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Source: (McLeod, 2020)

The scientific motivation theory was addressed by Abraham Maslow for the first time. Maslow argued that people have some needs because they are social and psychological entities and that people have to satisfy these needs. They are analytically classified as, physiological, security, of belonging to a group, as the need for love and creativity. Maslow model is aimed to explain human motivation and employees' personal development needs. This theory is explained by Maslow pyramid (Ozguner & Ozguner, 2014).

Figure 2 - Opportunities for Satisfaction in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs

Source: (Ozguner & Ozguner, 2014)

Maslow’s ideas are very helpful for understanding the needs of people at work and for determining what can be done to satisfy them. His theory advises managers to recognize that deprived needs may negatively influence attitudes and behaviors (Ozguner & Ozguner, 2014).

The different levels of needs on Maslow’s hierarchy are discussed as follows:

(i) Physiological needs

These are biological needs which consist of the need for oxygen, food, water, and a relatively constant body temperature. They are the strongest needs because if a person were deprived of all needs, it is these physiological ones that would come first in the person's search for satisfaction (Ozguner & Ozguner, 2014)

(ii) Safety needs

When all physiological needs are met and are no longer controlling thoughts and behaviors, the needs for security can become active. While adults have little awareness of their security needs except in times of emergency or periods of disorganization in the social structure (such as widespread rioting), children often display the signs of insecurity and the need to be safe (Ozguner & Ozguner, 2014)

(iii) Needs for love, affection and belongingness

When the needs for safety and for physiological well-being are satisfied, the next class of needs for love, affection and belongingness can emerge. Maslow states that people seek to overcome feelings of loneliness and alienation. This involves both giving and receiving love, affection and the sense of belonging (Ozguner & Ozguner, 2014)

(iv) Needs for esteem

When the first three classes of needs are satisfied, the needs for esteem can become dominant. These involve needs for both self-esteem and for the esteem a person gets from others. Humans have a need for a stable, firmly based, high level of self-respect, and respect from others. When these needs are satisfied, the person feels self-confident and valuable as a person in the world. When these needs are frustrated, the person feels inferior, weak, helpless and worthless (Ozguner & Ozguner, 2014)

(v) Needs for self-actualization

When all of the foregoing needs are satisfied, then and only then are the needs for self-actualization activated. Maslow describes self-actualization as a person's need to be and do that which the person was "born to do." "A musician must make music, an artist must paint, and a poet must write." These needs make themselves felt in signs of restlessness. The person feels on edge, tense, lacking something, in short, restless. If a person is hungry, unsafe, not loved or accepted, or lacking self-esteem, it is very easy to know what the person is restless about. However, it is not always clear what a person wants when there is a need for self-actualization (Ozguner & Ozguner, 2014)

Below video is a short summary of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Video 1 - Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs - What motivates us?

Source: (Ducere Global Business School, 2018) 

The organization I work for have been focusing on the employee motivation and their engagement at work using many research findings. Out of them Maslow's hierarchy of needs has been one of the simpler models for the management to focus on employee motivation and what affects their performance. Over the time organization was able to ensure employee motivation and higher employee engagement levels due to the focused efforts in ensuring employee basic needs to the self-actualization needs. The model has provided key inputs and focus areas for the human resource management even though the model is very old.
A focused study on employee needs which affects their motivation and efforts to ensuring the fulfillment of such needs had given best results over time.

References

Ducere Global Business School, 2018. Youtube - Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs - What motivates us?. [Online]
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IETlvTNWhPg
[Accessed 07 05 2021].

Jerome, N., 2013. Application of the Maslow’s hierarchy of need theory; impacts and implications on organizational culture, human resource and employee’s performance. International Journal of Business and Management Invention, 2(3), pp. 39-45.

Koltko-Rivera, M. E., 2006. Rediscovering the Later Version of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Self-Transcendence and Opportunities for Theory, Research, and Unification. Review of General Psychology, 10(4), pp. 302-317.

McLeod, S., 2020. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. [Online]
Available at: https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html#gsc.tab=0
[Accessed 07 05 2021].

Ozguner, Z. & Ozguner, M., 2014. A Managerial Point of View on the Relationship between of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Herzberg’s Dual Factor Theory. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 5(7), pp. 207-215.

Zameer, H., Shehzad, A., Waqar, N. & Muhammad, A., 2014. The Impact of the Motivation on the Employee’s Performance in Beverage Industry of Pakistan. International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, 4(1), pp. 293-298.