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by Fiona Robertson

Abraham Maslow is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the humanist approach to management due to his lifelong study of motivational psychology. In 1943, he wrote a seminal paper in which he identified five basic types of human need, all of which act as drivers of behaviour. Each person’s personal circumstances will naturally force them to focus on their immediate needs and it is these requirements that are the basis of human motivation. What was particularly significant about Maslow’s theory was that he ranked these in a hierarchy, stating that the basest needs in the pyramid (see figure) had to be satisfied before an individual could progress to focussing on needs of the next type.

The structure of the Needs Hierarchy, in sequence, is as follows :

1. Physiological needs

   This covers the function, comfort and maintenance of the body on its most basic level: our primitive survival requirements of air, food, drink, heat, shelter, sleep, light, water, health, etc.

2. Safety needs

   Safety refers not just to our own physical safety and protection from harm but also to our continued well-being. This level therefore covers our financial security (employment, pension, savings) as well as insurance, access to medical help, law and order, limits, stability – all the infrastructure that keeps us secure.

3. Belonging needs

   These refer to our various needs for human contact : family, friends, relationships, love, acceptance, teams, a social life and society generally.

4. Esteem needs

   These recognise the need for status, power, prestige, acknowledgement, respect, responsibility, mastery or dominance – the sort of attributes that can elevate individuals in some way, giving them a higher position within a social group.

5. Self-actualisation needs

   The final set of needs deals with each person’s desire to become the best that they can be through personal growth and by achieving their potential; to be fulfilled by living out their individual destinies.

During the course of his life, Maslow continued to refine this basic model and either he (or unattributed colleagues) added an additional three stages to the hierarchy :

• the need for knowledge and thinking (cognition),
• the need to appreciate and enjoy beauty (aesthetics) and
• the need to selflessly help others (transcendence).

However, for the purposes of management theory and personal development, Maslow’s original five-stage hypothesis is ideal for understanding human motivation since his ideas remain just as valid today as when they were first presented over 60 years ago.

The key to understanding this model of human behaviour is to accept that a person will always focus on their most basic needs first. Only when these are being satisfied will a person then turn their attention to the next level of requirement. So to give an example, someone with a good job, a decent income and a good network of friends will probably be concerned with their perceived status within the company they work for or amongst their peer group; they may want more recognition for their work and will consequently find a better job title more motivating than a pay rise; they may seek fresh challenges or wish to learn new skills… It’s safe to say that they won’t be worried about having a roof over their head or where their next meal is coming from - unless they lose their job, their house, their health or some other driver further down the scale.

If this should happen, then immediately their focus will be shifted to their more fundamental requirements. To illustrate further, someone facing heart surgery doesn’t think twice about how well they’ve mastered their job (Esteem); their attention is preoccupied with their health (Physiology). Therefore, only once any threat to a person’s basic needs has been eliminated can they begin to focus on their higher needs for relationships, self-esteem and their aspirations for fulfilment.

At this point we need to introduce a broad difference between deficiency needs (physiological, safety, belonging and esteem requirements) and growth needs (self-actualisation) :

• Deficiency needs are basic requirements that need to be met and neutralised. In addressing these drives, they become eliminated so deficiency needs cease to be motivators of behaviour.

• Growth needs, however, are enduring drivers; they can never be wholly satisfied or neutralised because, in achieving them, a person will invariably extend their ambitions to some greater project or higher goal so they remain permanent sources of motivation.

As Maslow put it, “A musician must make music, the artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be.” (Motivation & Personality, 1954)

Maslow’s Hierarchy has helped businesses to shape the modern working environment by addressing as many of an individual’s basic needs as possible.

• There are proscribed working hours and meal breaks to allow their physiological needs to be met;
• There are laws governing an individual’s safety at work, and procedures to give their behaviour boundaries and structure;
• Companies now organise social gatherings to help foster a sense of belonging, while employees are often grouped into working teams to give a sense of family;
• Regular employee assessments mean that a person’s achievements can be tracked and recognised, fuelling their sense of self-esteem;
• Finally, their self-actualisation is also deemed vital since a person’s opportunities for growth (through training and acquiring new skills) may influence how long they decide to stay with a company or how engaged they feel by their work.

Maslow’s concept of self-actualisation is of direct relevance to organisations today. The current focus in internal communication on employee engagement and its links to customer satisfaction and increased productivity can all be traced back to Maslow. He foresaw an individual’s need to strive for self-actualisation, to find meaning and purpose in all that they do - not just in their home lives but at work as well - and that self-actualisation was a powerfully motivating driver within all staff, not just within management.

Those companies who achieve high employee satisfaction scores are those that care about their people : they listen to their opinions (Esteem and Belonging), they act on their concerns (Safety and Physiology) and they focus not only on their training and career development but on their personal growth as well (Self-Actualisation).

To quote Businessballs.com,

“The best modern employers and organisations are beginning to learn that sustainable success is built on a serious and compassionate commitment to helping people identify, pursue and reach their own personal unique potential.”

However, the drivers in the Hierarchy have far-reaching applications for entities such as businesses as well as for individuals. These motivational factors can be related to departments, business streams and whole sectors of industry just as effectively as they can to people.

For example, if a department is in organisational disarray and isn’t meeting its targets (ie it lacks structure at the Safety level), then trying to motivate its workers with recognition and rewards (Esteem drivers) will be ineffectual. The workforce will probably be more concerned with salary payments and, ultimately, their job security so motivation must be pitched at the appropriate level if it is to hit home and have the desired effect.

Self-actualised employees

However, where all other things are equal between two employers – eg rates of pay, good working conditions and an attractive career progression - the company that can appeal to an individual’s sense of self-actualisation is the one that will achieve higher levels of dedication, esprit de corps and productivity. This is why nurseswork long hours for relatively low pay.

To give another illustration, let’s say there are two mechanics; one works for Ferrari and the other works at Ford. They both earn the same amount but the Ferrari mechanic’s dedication to his job is higher because working for the Ferrari brand fulfils his aspirations. In his mind, Ferrari makes the best engines so he is working with the best there is; he is therefore the best that he can be so is self-actualised.

This stream of thinking leads into the role of brand ambassador programmes, which are used to engineer the highest level of Maslow’s hierarchy into the way people think about their jobs as well as their personal life.

A powerful yet simple model, if used appropriately, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs can be used to spur on individuals, working teams and entire organisations with astounding effect. No wonder that Maslow’s theory revolutionised management.

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