Motivation
Theories
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
According
to Smith & Cronje (1992), the way Maslow’s theory is explained relies on
the fact that people want to increase what they want to achieve in life and
their needs are prioritized according to their importance (illustrated in
figure 1.0). Deriving from the hierarchy of needs by Maslow, content theories
of job satisfaction revolve around employees’ needs and the factors that bring
them a reasonable degree of satisfaction (Saif et al., 2012). Based on the
basic physical, biological, social and psychological needs of human beings,
Maslow came up with a five-stage theory that places the needs of the individual
in different categories and prioritizes their attainment. (Jerome 2013).
Figure 1.0: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
(Source:
Jerome 2013)
Implications
of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory for Managers
In
the case of Physical Needs, managers should pay employees appropriate
salaries to buy basic necessities of life. Leisure and dining opportunities
should be provided to employees.
When
it comes to Needs safety requirements, managers should provide employees with
job security, a safe and hygienic work environment and retirement benefits. When
it comes to respectful needs, managers can appreciate and reward employees for
meeting and exceeding employee goals. A qualified employee can be given a
higher job/position within the organization (Maslow, A. H. 2013). When it
comes to self-verification requirements, managers can provide challenging job
opportunities that take full advantage of the employees' skills and skills.
Moreover, they can provide growth opportunities so that they can reach peak
levels (Jerome
2013).
“I work for a leading bank,
in the banking sector, In consideration of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, of what
motivates humans. The theory dictates that, once a person's basic psychological
and safety needs are met, he or she will develop a need to belong, then get
respect and then ultimately realize his or her full potential. That last stage
has the potential to affect a bank's bottom line. For example, while senior
managers are responsible for ensuring that a bank's process for opening current
accounts is efficient utilizing up-to-date technology a bank employee will
likely get involved at some point in the process.
For
example, the bank provides special loan schemes to its employees at low
interest rates, such as Housing and repair loans, furniture loans, wedding
loans, funeral loans, pilgrimage loans, educational loans, consumer loans,
motor vehicle and repair loans, bicycle loans in order to uplift their
employees and their family’s living standards. This satisfies the employee’s
basic needs, wellbeing, security, love, and affection from their family’s and
shelter and safety needs, which ticks the lower levels of the hierarchy of
needs.
Further,
in general, the employees receive their monthly salaries which align with the
industrial benchmarks, and allowances which are considered as monetary such as
cost of living allowances, medical reimbursements, traveling/food/lodging
reimbursements, fuel allowances, gas allowances, spectacle, and hearing aide
reimbursements, surgical and hospitalization reimbursements, Entertainment and
holiday allowances, annual bonuses, servant and drivers allowances, risk
allowances, telephone bill reimbursements, which varies between individuals
rank and position in the bank.
The
institution rewards with monetary and non-monetary rewards for the achievement
of various targets and goals, such as party financing of staff annual trips,
foreign tours. And even the institution rewards to the highest-ranked corporate
personnel’s with luxury vehicles such as Mercedes Benz’s and
BMW which is borne by the bank for their esteem needs and self-actualization
needs.
Therefore
it is evident that the subject commercial bank in Sri Lanka clearly maintains
an organizational culture where its employees are motivated and satisfied to a
greater extent. Whereas the banking institution claims to be one of the leading
banks in the island and been awarded in many esteem rewards from reputed bodies
and sustains in the industry by its competitive advantages where “people” are
being involved.
List of Reference
American Banker (2018) what
banks can learn from Maslow’s hierarchy of needs,[online] Available
from https://www.americanbanker.com/opinion/what-banks-can-learn-from-maslows-hierarchy-of-needs [Accessed 25 August
2019].
Jerome,
N. (2013). Application of the Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Need Theory; impacts and Implications on Organizational Culture,
Human Resource and Employee’s Performance. International Journal of
Business and Management, Volume 2 Issue 3, 41-42.
Maslow,
A. H. (1987). Motivation and personality (3rd ed.). Delhi, India:
Pearson Education
Maslow,
A. H. (2013). Toward a psychology of being. Start Publishing LLC.
I agree with above. However there are criticisms regarding above theory. Nadler & Lawler (1979), argue that the theory makes the following unrealistic assumptions about employees in general that; all employees are alike, all situations are alike and that and there is only one best way to meet needs.
ReplyDeleteI agreed. Maslow's model misses the role of social connection .
DeleteMaslow's point of view is very helpful in understanding the needs of the staff and determining how to meet their needs. His theory suggests that managers to recognize that deprived needs may have a negative impact on attitudes and behaviors, as well as providing opportunities to meet demand. May have a positive incentive effect(McGrath and Bates, 2017).
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Maslow's theory is very helpful in understanding the needs of all level of staffs including managers also.
DeleteMaslow has identified the basic needs in terms of physical, biological, social and psychological where according to those needs, he has come up with a hierarchy with five stages (Jerome 2013). But there are criticisms that he has missed the social connection where several researchers were believed that without social connection there is no survival physically as well as emotionally (Rutledge, 2011).
ReplyDeleteI agreed. Maslow's model misses the role of social connection .
DeleteAgree with you point furthermore, One of the main motivation for individuals towards improving performance is financial rewards whereas, money is used to satisfy individual needs mainly for workers in production companies (Dobre, 2013).
ReplyDeleteAgreed.The theory assumes that all people experience these needs in the same order, failing to recognize cultural and individual differences. In collectivist societies, for example, social needs may be considered more important than physiological needs.
DeleteHi Radchika, even though Maslow's model offers a number of benefits into understanding human needs, Kunchala (2017) says since 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).
ReplyDeleteThe biggest advantage of Maslow theory of motivation is that it is very simple to understand and even layman can understand and relate to this theory because we all go through one or other stage of needs pyramid during our lifetime
DeleteI agree with the above note and would like to mention that Maslow (1943) stated that people are motivated to achieve certain needs. When one need is fulfilled a person seeks to fulifil the next one, and so onIy would like consider about the drawbacks of this theory. From a scientific perspective there are numerous problems with this particular approach. First, it could be argued that biographical analysis as a method is extremely subjective as it is based entirely on the opinion of the researcher.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest disadvantage of this theory is that not all individuals think in the same way hence for some individuals social affection and respect is more important than safety needs and that is the reason why one sees many people do grand ceremony of their children’s birthdays or marriages or purchasing expensive cars in order to show off to society before buying insurance plan for family or purchasing a house for the family as they get more satisfaction from showing off to society than fulfilling safety needs of the family.
DeleteMaslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is applied in psychology as well as in business, and it helps to understand what motivates people. The pyramid has five needs, and according to Maslow’s theory, a person does not feel needs above unless the needs in the bottom have been satisfied. (Jerome2013, 41-42)
ReplyDeleteAgreed.The theory assumes that all people experience these needs in the same order, failing to recognize cultural and individual differences. In collectivist societies, for example, social needs may be considered more important than physiological needs.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Radchika, Agree with you and your post is proven by below reference.
ReplyDeleteThe idea implies the dual role of the theory first to organizations and second to employees on the basis that both the organization and the employees must decide on the performance of their organization, and that when employees put in their best in the service of the organization, the culture and human resource practice should also ensure that the employees’ level of needs are reflected in the values the organization holds with high esteem (Greenberg & Baron, 2003).
Radchika, the importance of monthly salary is that it is used to fulfil the lower levels or the basic levels of human needs. Hence the importance of a monthly salary cannot be disregard. However physiological needs are not the only needs an employee is trying to fulfil from a monthly wage (MacGregor, 2003). Rather he tries to fulfil most of his needs from the salary. Hence an increment of the monthly salary can directly influence the level of employee motivation.
ReplyDelete