PSYCHOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY ASSIGNMENT

TOPIC: Maslows Hierarchical Theory of Human Motivation and Its application in Day-To Day Life

SUBMITTED TO: Dr.A.Navin Kumar SUBMITTED BY: P Vidya Sagar 09BME040

Slot-A2

MASLOWS HIERARCHY THEORY OF HUMAN MOTIVATION

Introduction: Mr.Abraham Harold Maslow was a Psychologist who suggested his theory of human motivation in 1943.This theory is most popular and extensively cited theory of motivation. Basically, his theory talks about the hierarchy of human needs. According to him, human behavior is always related to his needs and which varies as the nature of needs to be satisfied for an individual. In his theory of hierarchy of needs, he identified five hierarchies of needs of human arranged according to their priority and urgency. He says that if one of the needs in the hierarchy is satisfied then it stops to be a motivating factor and the next level of needs in the hierarchy comes into picture. Maslows hierarchy of needs is most often depicted as a pyramid. The bottom most level of the pyramid is made up of the most basic needs and the more intricate complex needs are situated at the top of the pyramid. Needs in the hierarchy at the bottom level of the pyramid are basic and important physical requirements which also includes the need for food, shelter, and clothing. Once these bottom-level needs have been met, people will generally move on to the higher level of needs, which may be of their safety and also security (Wenling wu, 2012). This theory can also be used a measure of degree of satisfaction of needs (David Lester, 1990).There were several studies made for acceptance of this theory of hierarchy of human needs but only few were able to support Maslows theory.(Mahmoud&Lawrence,1976) Basic Assumptions in needs hierarchy theory: The assumptions in hierarchy of needs theory as per Maslow are is as follows: 1. Every human is has needs and his needs keep growing continuously even though his primary needs are satisfied. Human needs are varied and diversified nature that is his needs keep varying from time to time and these needs are different from one another. These varied and diversified needs are put in an orderly hierarchy of importance starting from lower to higher order needs. 2. Needs follow a definite hierarchy of importance. It is like as soon as the lower level needs are fulfilled then comes the next level of needs and which will stay until their demand is satisfied. According to Maslow, a man can live by bread alone when there is no other go but it is not that he lives only on bread though he can sustain eating bread alone.However, he feels the other

needs when his primary psychological needs are satisfied. The other needs include safety, security, social esteem and self actualization which influence the behavior of people at work and to work. He concludes that attention to psychological needs is not adequate but attention should be given to all his/her diversified needs to motivate them. 3. A need satisfied at primary level does not act as a motivator in the later stages of needs in the pyramid. 4. As one is need satisfied in the pyramid, another need substitutes it. Maslows pyramid of human needs: Maslows pyramid of human needs are explained with respect to the following figure as shown below:.

Figure1.Maslows pyramid of human needs The Maslows pyramid of human needs is explained below:1. Physiological needs: These are the primary and basic which a human expects and needs to be satisfied without which we cant expect him/her to work efficiently. These basic human needs also referred to as biological needs include breathing, food, clothing, shelter, air, water, sleep and sex (Gaurav, 2010). These hierarchy of needs lie at the bottom most level in the priority of needs

and these cant be kept waiting for long, Unless and until ,these basic psychological needs are satisfied to the required extent, other needs do not emerge in an employee. For example, for a poor person, he will think of his shelter, food and he does not think of other things because he knew that he is poor. So to make that person work efficiently, management attempts to meet such psychological needs through good amount of salaries. 2. Safety /security needs: It is the next level of hierarchy of needs as per Maslow. These needs include personal safety, employment security, health and property, natural calamities or hazards and so on. Even though people say psychological needs should be given higher importance but everything looks smaller when safety needs are considered. An employee expects all kinds of safety and security which may include physical danger, pension at later life stages and insurance policy for his life and so on. Optimal performance of an employee can be obtained only if he feels that his health and life are safe at his work. Thus, employer should make sure that employee basis safety needs are provided. 3. Belonging and love/ Social needs: It is the next level in the hierarchy of level of needs. Man, being a social animal he feels to stay in society. These needs emerge only if the psychological and safety needs are well gratified (Maslow, 1943). Here the person feels about his friends, wife and children. He will try to maintain new relations and strives with greater intensity to get a place in the group he wants to be with. During this process of finding for his place, he might even forget his hunger. From employers perspective, building of friendly environment will bring team spirit which is a way to satisfy employees needs and satisfy him/her. 4. Esteem needs: These needs come next in the hierarchy of human needs in the Maslows pyramid. This category of needs include self confidence, mutual respect, appreciation from the society and finally a prestigious position. Belonging self-concept was negatively related to selfesteem and autonomy, while being positively related to neuroticism, depression, social recognition, and affiliation (Williams&Monte, 1994). The organization can satisfy the need by giving some recognition to the good work of employees. These needs don not assume motivational properties until previous needs are satisfied. 5. Self actualization: This is at the highest among the hierarchy of needs proposed by Maslow. Self actualization means the desire to become what one is capable of becoming. Here the person

feels that he needs to achieve something big in his life and so he tries to work with full potential. He feels like facing odds and achieves something great in his area of specialization. These needs are fully satisfied rarely. Limitations of hierarchy of needs theory: Though Maslows theory of motivation is most famous and are applied almost all over the world and are used as guidelines by several managers in the organizations, they have their limitations which are as follows: 1. Maslows theory is very simple theory and it considers human basic needs only. There is no direct input and output relationship between need of human and his behavior. 2. The theory of needs is not a generalized one because all employees needs are not uniform. Many are satisfied with psychological and security of employment. 3. The pattern of hierarchy of needs may not be applicable to all categories of employees because everyone has their own preferences. 4. Maslows theory is more of philosophical in nature but it does not satisfy scientifically in all the cases. 5. This theory does not refer to several motivating factors such as experience, expectations and perception of the employees. Application of Maslows hierarchy of human needs in day-to-day life: Maslows hierarchy of human needs is applicable in most of the day-do-day life which are satisfied either knowingly or accidentally. The applications here explained through some examples in our daily life. 1. Education: The most important educational goal for the students is to learn by gaining new knowledge and use it in their lives. This entire can obtained only through motivation from teacher, parents and friends. 2. Hospital: As a nurse or a doctor, he/she has to take care of the patients whose service is of at most importance to them. So safety needs are to be satisfied to the patient.

3 Industry: As an organizational owner, he/she has to fulfill the needs of his/her employees which in turn makes the employee to work at his best to bring profits to the organization. The applications of Maslows hierarchy theory of human motivation are infinite and the importance given to these needs and theory is always growing in the field of psychology as per the latest statistics.

Maslows modern relevance: Though the theory has been advocated in 1943, it has got many conclusions and outcomes which are now applied in the modern technology which includes subjects like psychological contract, mutual beliefs and managing the leadership ethics and even taking it to globalization of the society. Maslows theory is famous because it is a very simplified theory and graceful and clean model for understanding all the aspects of human needs for motivation, mostly in the working area. Controversy on Maslows Theory: The primary question that people generally ask is that how does it relate to humanistic psychology and if so, is there any evidence proof to support the theory when it comes right down to how people develop emotionally. People argue that anyone in society can value an alternative aspect of hierarchy pyramid with Maslows model. Because, some cultures may give more preference to esteem over safety. So the theory of Maslow cant be generalized for all the community if people. And then comes the concept of self actualization that is how significant is the concept of self actualizer? People ask this because everyone has many dreams but they cant be achieved but people do have development at different stages and all of them are self actualizers on some or the other form.

References: 1. Dale E.Williams & Monte M.Page, 2004,A multi-dimensional measure of hierarchy of needs, Journal of research in personality. 2. Wenling Wu, 2012,The relationship between incentives to learn and Maslows hierarchy of needs presented in 2012 International conference on applied physics and Industrial engineering. 3. David Lester, 1990Maslows hierarchy of needs and personality, Journal of personality and individual differences. 4. Mahmoud A Wahba & Lawrence G.Bridwell, 1976,Maslow reconsidered: A review of research on the need hierarchy theory, Journal of organizational behavior and human performance. 5. Gaurav Akrani, 2010,Maslows Hierarchy of needs-Theory of human motivation 6. www.Businessballs.com,2009,Maslows hierarchy of needs 7. A.H.Maslow, 1943,A theory of human motivation originally published in Psychological review, 50,370-396.