MASLOW'S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

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Five Levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

McLeod, S (2018)


Abraham Maslow came up with a hierarchy of needs theory & stated that people are motivated thru five levels of needs, namely Physiological needs, safety, Love & belonging, esteem & self-actualization. McLeod (2018) categorize Physiological & safety needs as considered Basic needs, Love & belonging, esteem as Physiological needs & self-actualization is a self-fulfillment need.

Application of theory to the organization I work for,

Being employed in a leading Stock Brokering firm in Sri Lanka, given below is how Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory is applied to the organisation.

Psychological needs are the basic requirement of a person says Ramlall (2004). In today’s context the basic needs of an employee can be defined as a friendly working environment, having a equiped workstation to do your day to day work. Being a service provider, all employees in my company is provided with a PC or a laptop along with the telephone. An internet facility with the required brand with is provided as it is critical to log in to the back-office systems & for the stock brokering advisor to place the customer share trading orders. Along with the above a regular monthly salary is paid which could enable employees to afford acceptable living conditions.

The second level of motivation in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is Safety. Cherry (2022), brings up three categories of safety such as Financial Security, Health & wellness, Safety against accidents and injury. The company I work for pays its employees a decent salary. Having a fixed salary each month is some sort of financial security in today’s economy condition in Sri Lanka. Company further offer  Life/ Health insurances & having security guards in the office premises provides a work environment free of threat & harm, company reimbursing employee GYM membership fees, can be considered under methods of satisfying safety needs. Company being able to satisfy employee basic needs will motivate the employees & make them contribute towards the organization.

 

However, satisfying only the basic needs alone will not keep the employees motivated. For which Maslow introduces the 3rd & 4th Level of needs. Love & belonging or social needs as stated by Kaur (2013), once the basic needs are met employees will be in need for interpersonal relationships. This will indicate the need to be a part of a group such as a group of colleagues in a Workplace, friendship, social group among others in the society.  Aruma & Hanachor (2017) states that Love and belonging develops the confidence of their own abilities & make them contribute reasonably to decision making process that promotes company performance. To meet these needs the organisation I work for encourage employee participation in social events such as company get-togethers, company outings & trips.

 

Desire for reputation or respect from others (status, prestige) & self-esteem is referred to as Esteem needs by McLeod (2018). Yearly performance appraisals are taken place based on which the increments & promotions are given to the employees. Chairman & the CEO are provided with a company maintained cars. Giving the due respect, ranking & recognition within the company will enable the employees to achieve the esteem needs.

Once both Basic & physiological needs are met, employee’s concentration will be on their Self-actualization needs. Self-actualization needs are the highest level in Maslow's hierarchy.  This refers to a person identifying his/ her talents, potential & seeking personal growth and experiences. ‘Self actualisation or self-realisation becomes a reality when people develop the desire to exploit all the talents’ (Aruma & Hanachor, 2017). This encourages people to be innovative, creative & will improving the skills with in them. 

 

An organization recruits employees in order to gain company performance & to earn profits. For which, the employee performance & their contribution towards the organization is critical. By addressing the needs of motivation in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs will motivate the employees to achieve the organization goals by exploiting their talents & capabilities.

 

Reference list

·         Aruma,OE, Hanachor,ME 2017, Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and assessment of needs in community development, International journal of development and economic sustainability, Vol.5, No.7, pp.15-27, Viewed 22 November 2022,  https://www.eajournals.org/wp-content/uploads/Abraham-Maslow%E2%80%99s-Hierarchy-of-Needs-and-Assessment-of-Needs-in-Community-Development.pdf

·         Hanif,A , Khalid,W , Khan, TN 2013, Relating Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs with employee turnover and retention: case study of local telco, International journal of human resource studies , Vol. 3, No. 2 ,PP. 51-68, Viewed 20 November 2022, https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/64811014/3864_14481_1_PB-with-cover-page-v2.pdf?Expires=1669031382&Signature=D7Fkf1reoYiAhyZ-68fu2yIKdVrERUXA4sp4RdPTdlgupTCxvsCV5BGfPfyKgKkgjGLP3vdN-Ydr29y5co~XKijy6VpYLX2ek38JVJfLmY1aCfajXnkech3wNDwicXXUBYI2kQlP7hZPN6jcMhVmmWGrRWoMnazslvVVsJT3LLBzBuYKklAz1i9fD9duJCE2ysAAe6uJxjzHAtz~WLSdflbAl8tZb18geEm--obYF44fakyn5tuEOXA-~86-HOuX69-WUZx~IzgnftdHk9RiPcGddE-wJ7-~N779G-ToK-BIZW1RJMaXlAQFMMB18cTiJxcEglE-iiRwpo8iOKtkTQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA

·         Kaur, A 2013, Maslow’s need hierarchy theory: applications and criticisms, Global journal of management and business studies, Vol.3, pp. 1061-1064, , Viewed 20 November 2022, https://www.ripublication.com/gjmbs_spl/gjmbsv3n10_03.pdf

·         Ramlall, S 2004, A review of employee motivation theories and their implications for employee retention within organizations, The journal of American academy of business, Cambridge.

·         Roopavathi, S & Kishore, K 2020, Motivational factors of employee retention and engagement in organisation, Journal of Information and Computational Science, Vol. 10, pp 1080-1085, Viewed 21 November 2022,  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344589777_Motivational_Factors_of_Employee_Retention_and_Engagement_in_Organisation

·         Walia,GK  & Daroch,B 2017, Retention practices: remedy to employee turnover disease, International journal of engineering technology, management and applied sciences, Vol 5, pp.576-581.

·         Mcleod, S 2018, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, Viewed 21 November 2022, https://canadacollege.edu/dreamers/docs/Maslows-Hierarchy-of-Needs.pdf

 

Comments

  1. Zameera ThahaNovember 26, 2022 at 7:05 AM

    I agree with this content presented. As mentioned just satisfying a day to day need will not retain the employee. Employee engagement will play a vital role in employee retention so organizations should focus more on employee retention of they are looking at a long term relationship with the employees.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Layanjalie FernandoNovember 26, 2022 at 5:14 PM

      Thank you for your feedback Zameera. As Satata (2021) stated Employee engagement is a cognitive, emotional, and behavioral condition of an individual which is directed towards organizational goals. Employee engagement plays an important role in the organization so that it will enhance once performance which leads to job satisfaction & eventually company achieving employee retention.

      Delete
  2. Tharaka De VisserDecember 7, 2022 at 3:40 AM

    Agreed on the above content Layanjalie Fernando, this model conveys how ambitious people are and how they constantly want more but this model does have limitation as this model does not take into account cultural differences, as companies can have multi-cultural workforces and their beliefs will be different from one another. (Borrington & Stimpson, 2013)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Layanjalie FernandoDecember 7, 2022 at 8:06 AM

      Totally agree with you Tharaka. However, Saxena (2014) states that this problem can be eliminated by adopting various policies. Such as, using common language within the organization, conducting motivational & mentorship programs, encourage employee participation etc.

      Delete
  3. Layanjalie FernandoDecember 7, 2022 at 5:14 AM

    Thank you for your comment Jeyarajasingam. Malsow (1954) further stated that, the lower levels of needs should be full-filed first however, this does not mean that an organization should always consider the psychological needs as the key area of focus, when trying to increase employee motivation. Depending on the nature/status of business, the key area of focus may change. For an example, a construction business might find out that their employees value safety needs as their primary need whereas a consulting firm may find it to be the esteem needs.

    ReplyDelete
  4. sarasi BotejueDecember 9, 2022 at 9:44 PM

    True Laya, furthermore, Maslow’s theory has many reinforces such as its very simple to understand, it pertinent to all fields and also acknowledge human nature but it also Maslow’s theory ignores human different cultural and it also fails to take into consideration that employee may be motivated by intrinsic rewards (Mawere, et al., 2016).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Layanjalie FernandoDecember 10, 2022 at 2:30 AM

      Agree on you point Sarasi, furher, Kunchala (2017) says that there is no empirical value to measure one's satisfaction of a level, employers would find it difficult to gauge the level of satisfaction of an employee. In addition, the same product or service can satisfy a number of needs at once, making the pyramid less effective (Rutledge, 2011).

      Delete

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