Importance of Employee
Motivation related to Maslow’s Theory
Introduction
Motivation
can be defined as a psychological force that determines the way of a person’s
behavior and a person’s level of persistence in the face of obstacles. Motivational
theories have been updated and expanded through years and have brought many
pictures to the society on its effects on employees at workplace. Each of these
theories shows different aspects of motivation (Lauby, 2005).
Figure 1.1: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a one
famous theory in the context.
Abraham
Maslow is a famous Psychologist, who invented a paper in 1943 called “A theory
of Human Motivation”. He proposes that a human need to satisfy five basic
needs;
·
Physiological
·
Safety
·
Belongingness
·
Esteem
·
Self-actualization
Those
needs constitute a hierarchy of needs, with the most basic or compelling needs
at the bottom (Daniels, 1982). Maslow argued that a person must have his or her
lowest-level needs met before he or she would strive to satisfy needs higher in
the hierarchy. Once a need is satisfied, it ceases to operate as a source of
motivation. the lowest level of unmet needs in the hierarchy is the prime
motivator or behavior. if or when that level is satisfied, the needs at the
next highest levels in the hierarchy motivate behavior (Lauby, 2005).
Human
needs arrange themselves in hierarchies of prepotency. That is to say, the
appearance of one need usually rests on the prior satisfaction of another, more
pre-potent need. Man is a perpetually wanting animal. Also, no need or drive is
related to the state of satisfaction or dissatisfaction of other drives
(Maslow, 2019).
The physiological needs
The
needs that are usually taken as the starting point for motivation theory are
the so-called physiological drives. Hunger, Thirst, sexual desires are count as
physiological needs for a human. The other needs become worthless until the
human fulfills his physiological needs. For example, if a human is dangerously hungry,
he will only remember about food. His only desire becomes to eat well rather
than any other needs at that time (Alderfer, 1969).
Safety needs
If
the physiological needs are relatively well gratified, there then emerges a new
set of needs, which we may categorize roughly as the safety needs. Safety needs
include the security, law and order, shelter, employment, health, stability
etc. Every human expects to be safe from his environment (Eisenberger, 1972).
Belongingness needs
Under
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, belongingness fixed as the third level of the
hierarchy. After the satisfaction and fulfilment of the physiological needs and
the safety needs, the human nature is to be accepted emotionally. At this
level, the need to be loved by someone, caring belonging to a family, being
treated in a well manner is expected (Maslow, 1964).
Esteem needs
At
this level, human become a matured expectation to protect his dignity level.
The needs include respect, self-esteem, achievement, confidence, recognition
and accomplishment. In a corporate environment, employees expect to be
recognized, achievements, status and respect at this level (Maslow, 1964).
Self-actualization
Its
identified as the highest level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs where a person
understand his full potential achieving all the needs and at this level seeking
for the personal growth with experience.
Maslow
explains, that once a person achieves the self-actualization need, he has
achieved the full potential of his life.
Employee motivation in
the corporate environment
In
the context of the corporate culture, it has become a key practice under Human
Resource Management to motivate the employee with the benefits for the
organization as well as for the employee. The level of motivation of the
employee can be measured with his performance evaluation and the organization
performance. Salary increments, bonus, perks, medical insurance and other
incentives are the financial rewards that an employee could be motivated. There
are non-financial rewards also such as recognition, respect and considering the
new ideas for action are few of them. The motivation can be a retention
strategy as well. Employee retention strategies go long way in motivating the
employees and that they stick to the organization for the maximum time and
contribute effectively (Vasantham & Swarnalatha, 2016).
If
the organization refuse to provide employees with the tools, they believe they
need, it’s natural for employees to interpret this as a sign that the
organization do not care about employees, which leads them to careless about
the company, which hurts the performance (Pepitone & Bruce, 1998).
Employees
sometimes not performing well due to lack of motivation. The lack of motivation
affects with the below reasons as well (Pepitone & Bruce, 1998);
·
Organizational fear or intimidation
·
Bureaucracy or red tape
·
Deadline pressures and anxiety
·
Conflicting goals and
·
Lack of training
·
Disputes between employees and managers
·
Lack of training
·
Unclear objectives (Pepitone & Bruce,
1998).
The
work motivation has been developed since ages and plays a vital role in
achieving organizational goals through employee motivation.
Reference
Alderfer,
C. P. (1969). An empirical test of a new theory of human needs. Organizational
Behavior and Human Performance, 4, 142-175.
Daniels,
M. (1982). The development of the concept of self-actualization in the writings
of Abraham Maslow. Current Psychological Reviews, 2, 61-76.
Eisenberger,
R. (1972). Explanation of rewards that do not reduce tissue needs.
Psychological Bulletin, 77, 319-339.
Maslow,
A. (1964). Religions, values, and peak experiences. Columbus, OH: Ohio State
University.
Lauby,
S. J., 2005. Motivating Employees. 510 ed. s.l.:American Society for Training
and Development.
Maslow,
A., 2019. A Theory of Human Motivation. 1 ed. New Delhi: GENERAL PRESS.
Pepitone,
J. S. & Bruce, A., 1998. Motivating Employees. Wisconcin: McGraw Hill
Professional.
Vasantham,
S. T. & Swarnalatha, C., 2016. NEED AND IMPORTANCE OF EMPLOYEE RETENTION IN
ORGANIZATION RELATED TO HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT. India: Lulu.com.
.
Further, having fulfilled the deficiency needs, highly motivated employees looking for the self development opportunities which HR managers should facilitate the opportunities to do innovations and influence employee performance that reduce the cost and increase the profit of the company, by achieving company goals efficiently and effectively (Mansaray,2019).
ReplyDeleteAgree with your views. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory is applicable to organizational orientation and employee motivation. This theory is able to suggest how managers can lead their employees to become self-actualized. The idea implies the dual role of the theory first to organization and second to employees on the basis that both the organization and the employees should decide on the performance of their organization (Jerome, 2013).
ReplyDeleteAgree. It’s important to organization to implement different motivation factors to improve productivity, such as motivated employees highly productive and force other to work harder (Dugguh, 2014).
ReplyDelete