Motivation According to Maslow

In 1943 Abraham Maslow published his paper, Theory of Motivation and termed the phase "self actualization." His motivational theory has been studied in psychology courses ever since, no doubt because it seems to carry a great deal of validity. Maslow believed that mankind possesses a hierarchy of needs. First the base needs must be filled before those above it can be concentrated upon. As an example, the need for air is probably the lowest need on the hierarchy. As you will simply discover by holding your breath and diving into the deep end, you find that all other needs will be put on the back burner so to speak until the need for air is satisfied. Once you have air, then you can start to work on such needs as hunger and thirst. Of course when you have those satisfied, you will be able to look for shelter, such as a warm place to sleep, to ensure your safety. This diagram is an easy explanation of Maslow's theory.

creative commons license

I believe that most of us who have employment, live somewhere in the middle of this depiction, always searching for friendship, family, sexual intimacy and above where we are looking for self-esteem, and respect of others.

So what can we learn from this about how to motivate your employees? You must remember that according to Maslow, people can't concentrate on the motivational forces above their current position until they have fulfilled those in the lower area. So if you are trying to use those forces such as self-esteem building, confidence, or respect of others, (which most managers are using in one form or another) you need to make sure that your employees are fulfilled in the more base areas.

I'll give you an anecdotal evidence. I recently spoke to a manager who was having trouble motivating her sales staff to sell and telling me that she had done all of the right things, i.e. creating a positive work environment, giving positive feedback to her people, creating competition, and creating a goal oriented reward structure. I was at a loss until when in the same conversation she mentioned that the air conditioner wasn't working and the sales room was "hotter than bloody hell." hmmmmm?

According to Maslow, the people couldn't concentrate on fulfilling any of their higher motivations, because their physiological needs were not met. So remember, motivation starts from the ground up, or the cool air down in this case.