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Abraham.H.Maslow published 'A Theory of Human Motivation' in 1943. In this work he argued that people are wanting / needing beings. As such we always want more, and what we want depends on what we already have. Maslow suggested human needs can be arranged into a series of levels, a hierarchy of importance.
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| Fig 1 : Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs |
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In essence we go through life seeking to satisfy these needs, starting at the bottom and working our way up. When a lower level of need is sufficiently satisfied we will seek to satisfy the next higher level of need. To motivate people therefore, you must offer them the opportunity to satisfy their current level of need. Once a need is satisfied it will no longer act as a strong motivator, only unsatisfied needs will motivate a person.
A breakdown of the general rewards associated with each level of need are given in the table below, in addition to organisational factors which could be used to satisfy these needs at work.
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| Level of Need |
General Rewards |
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Organisational Factors |
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| Self-actualisation |
Growth,
Achievement,
Advancement,
Creativity
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Challenging Job,
Opportunities for Creativity,
Achievement in Work,
Promotion
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Self-esteem
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Self-respect,
Status,
Prestige,
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Social Recognition,
Job Title,
High Status of Job,
Feedback from the Job itself
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Social
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Love,
Friendship,
Feelings of Belonging,
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Work Groups / Teams,
Supervision,
Professional associations
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Safety
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Security,
Stability,
Protection
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Health & Safety,
Job Security,
Contract of Employment
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Physiological
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food,
water,
sleep,
sex
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Pay,
Working Conditions
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A common misinterpretation of the hierarchy is that each need must be fully satisfied before a subsequent need arises. In fact an individual will probably have degrees or percentages of satisfaction at each level. The greater this degree of satisfaction the less influence on motivation a need will have. For example an individual may have satisfied 90% of their physiological needs; 75% of safety needs; 50% of their social needs, 30% esteem and 10% self-actualisation needs.
As in all of life, there are exceptions to the rule. Take one Vincent van Gogh, who has been universally acknowledged as a great artist, and as such we could argue self-actualised, i.e. realized his full potential as a painter. Yet in life we are told that van Gogh never sold a single painting, cut off one ear, and died alone ! Here is someone who was so focused on a higher level need that they had forgone satisfaction of all other levels of need in their life.
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