In Week 4, you analyzed a topic related to work motivation and developed an “Introduction” and “Background” for your Final Project (Attached). This week, you continue to analyze your work motivation t

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Professor’s Name:

Student’s Name:

Institution:

Course Title:

Date:

MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

Abraham Maslow presents human needs as classified into a pyramidical structure, starting with the most basic needs at the bottom of the pyramid to the more complex needs at the top of the pyramid. The needs are described as model that can be utilized to develop a training structure used by teachers through the use of technology. Through this model, identification of basic needs related to technology are established which have to be met before higher technological integration levels can be achieved. This establishes a platform for technological leaders to remodel their program to suite merging trends with regard to technological need (Bailey, 1998).

Maslow’s Hierarchy if needs can as well be applied to assist employers understand as well as motivate the employees despite the ever dynamism in the healthcare industry for instance. Maslow’s model is an integral part of the reorganization process in the healthcare industry. A new perspective is offered in relation to Maslow’s model and relates the concerns of the workforce which include, desires for stress free living, belongingness, self-actualization and self-esteem as well as the provision of new opportunities for self-definition and learning which can be provided through alteration of work environments as well as the alteration of social environments. Acceleration in the pace of changes in health care is thus expectant due to the workforce desires for the need prescribed by Maslow (Wininger, 2010). The accelerated pace of these changes thus dictates the requirement of increased resource allocation of training resources. Universal individual need understanding of these challenges is made possible by the Maslow model. It is a major concern to answer the question of how employee motivation can be made possible in the period when the demands are greatly increased whereas the resources allocated to those supposed to meet these demands keep on diminishing consistently. This though can be made possible through employee satisfaction in various ways including, ensuring the security of the employee, the assurance of employee need as well as the consistent appreciation of the employee. These goals can not be overstated, but the requisite efforts to achieve these near impossibilities include, the appropriate utilization of technology. This utilization of technology can bring about, opportunities which are necessary to meet these demands as well provision of requisite training platforms at achievable conditions hence improve possibilities of achievement of these goals (Benson, 2003).

Studies have been carried out to do analysis on various requirements for meeting Maslow’s hierarchy needs. These studies involve analysis of effects of employee recognition on the motivation of the employee. The studies as well stipulate how the working conditions influence the motivation of the employees. the studies as well indicate how personal development may impact the eventual motivation of the employee. A sample study was carried out on 278 employees in an organization which had an employee capacity of 1000. The method used to collect the data was through the use of questionnaires. The findings of the study indicated that the factors that most influenced the employee motivation were, recognition of their performance, the conditions of the working operation of the employees, the training that the employees were exposed to as well as the personal development of the employees (Wofford, 1971). The conclussion of the study was that the employee motivation as an aspect influencing productivity received little to no attention and thus was an untapped potential for increment in productivity which is an ingredient of optimal operation. It was thus recommended that further employee motivation studies be carried out through various sectors so as to enhance the understanding of employee motivation. For purposes of improving the quasi environmental studies, so as to improve theoretical understanding of strategies of motivating employees, further studies need to be done in the surveyed sectors as well (Cao et al, 2013).

it is the responsibility of social workers to lead employees as well as motivate them for purposes of achieving the desired success. For optimal results to be achieved, the managers need to not only utilize the wisdom they acquire through practice but they as well need to couple it up with the theoretical foundations of the various observations that they make from the practice wisdom. This results in a more objective and direct approach to the optimization of the process. This work helps social administrators as well as educators since it provides them with theories which are relevant to motivation and leadership as well as the description of these theories and their subsequent applications to social work. This is due to the fact that social managers are responsible for motivation of employees so as to enhance job performance (Fisher, 2009).

Play is a biologically driven project which enhances self-understanding as well as self-realization. This aspect of life is shared between human beings and various other creatures though humans have developed this aspect to be an integral part of social and psychological pattern. Scholars of various ages share the appreciation of Charles Darwin’s notion of shared ancestries among different species and hence relationship of the systemic emergence of species differences. The link between these similarities, exist at both individual as well as species level. There are various mechanisms of stability as well as change that need in-depth analysis to achieve the estimations of requisite resources to carry on these systemic dynamisms. Sone theorists regard play as a means of expressing the existence of surplus energy while others regard play as a means of getting off the various stressful features of the industrialization practices (Wolf, 1970). Though these theorists’ arguments converge at the point of play being an instinctive occurrence to all species. Other theorists as well regard play as a means of energy restoration and thus regard it a form of recreation. Others as well deem play as an ingredient of the recapitulation which is a means through which individuals can successfully undergo self-development hence improve on their initial productivity. Play thus is an illustration of the connection of a species to its heritage but also serves well to link the species to the preceding frameworks of universal existence. Without play, then species would be locked in an endless cycle of instinctive activities and thus inhibit the exploration of new possibilities which bring about optimality (Henricks, 2014).

Early in the twentieth century, scholars made fruitful attempts to come up with specifications of psychological and physiological processes that accelerate desires for play. This was made possible through special attention study of the play preceding. Due to this study, researchers came up with conclusions that play is a socially improved format of expression of desired feelings. Such findings are relatable to previous findings of play as being a pattern of ego mastery, which upon systemic development can be enhanced to be a source of pleasure. Through this systemic development, play can as well be improved to be a source of capacity for human coordination, hence influence personal development (McLaughlin et al, 1973).

When the perceptions of need satisfactions are compared, as was done by American managers who were during the time of the study based abroad, as well as those who were serving in similar capacities although their service was not abroad findings were developed regarding their level of satisfaction. This is in regard to the Maslow hierarchy needs and thus the evaluation of the motivation of the employees and subsequent resulting productivities. The data collection was done through the use of a need satisfaction questionnaire because of the success that the need satisfaction questionnaire had brought about in preceding uses. The indications of the findings were that despite the high levels of job satisfaction resulting from job positions, enjoyed by the surveyed employees, the level of autonomy as well as that of self-actualization and self-esteem were notably low. Hence indicating the delinking of the job level acquired satisfaction and relation to self-actualization and self-esteem realization (Ivancevich, 1969).

The measurement of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can be done through the use of two scales proposed by Lester and Fiebert. Then process was through the survey on college students whereby, scores of the five hierarchical needs proposed by Maslow had no correspondence in a positive or significant manner apart from the physiological needs. According to Maslow proposition, it is thus that deprivation of needs is an ingredient for psychopathology in specific, depression and mania. Despite these propositions it was found through the college student survey that the evidence supporting this preposition is thus shallow and thus no concrete evidence can link the need deprivation and the effects of psychopathology (Lester, 2013).

Unmet needs of children who were orphaned and those rendered homeless due to the effects of the second world war often posed various complications in attending to them. These needs were initially met through the use of attachment theory. The attachment theory was founded on the basis of Maslow’s theory for hierarchical needs. The theory was thus initially used to cater for the needs but was limited to addressing maternal deprivation as well as concordant losses. Later on, the theory was necessarily improved to deal with a wider range of needs that required addressing and were best addressed through the use of the Maslow theory of hierarchical needs. The advanced form of the theory was inclusive of sustenance and mating needs of humans. This is due to the argument that limitations in study groups for sampling of theory formation is expected to yield a theory which can be in practice only to a limited group of the population especially having a specific bias on those on which the sampling research was done (Maslow, 1959).

Maslow does a deep exploration of the complexity that embodies human nature. This he does through use of various methods, including empirical processes as well as philosophical enquiry of the aesthetics involved. This entails the Farther Reaches of human nature. This work is an extension of Maslow’s initial work, “Toward a Psychology of Being”. Essays on biology as well as creativity, cognition, self-actualization and hierarchical needs yield the inspiring and influential ideas tabled by Maslow (Maslow, 1971).

The systematic investigation of life history through employment of explicit theories is called psychobiography. In psychobiography, unique contribution is realized towards understanding experiences of phenomenology. Despite this great contribution various school of thought dismiss is as individualistic and thus is not possibly generalizable. Maslow’s theory though can be effectively utilized to achieve the desired analysis of individualistic factors but then research their contribution to underlying factors that influence the general human life. Maslow’s own life can do two things to enhance the effectiveness of these findings. One is to provide the desired case study which is in particular a good match for the model under observation. On the other side the Maslow life study does enhance the development of motivation theory which is realized through the study of phenomenology (Wieck, 2007). Since Maslow’s life draws from various resources it is thus much easier to establish the level of accuracy achieved regarding the information provide through matching if these independent resources of the information.

Maslow proposed a theory which was more positive in regard to human motivation and the theory was based on various studies which were deemed successful others done by Maslow’s mentors. Criticism was directed towards the traditional, method based on psychology which based theories on non-optimal samples hence coming up with a theory which was more based on optimal sampling and aimed at optimization of the results subsequently. This theory thus emphasized in the benefits of motivation as well as the yields of self-actualization. Before the Maslow theory breakthrough, behavioral predictions of human were mostly based upon biological studies to evaluate the biological responses of the human to various stimuli and hence enhance the process of stimuli actuation (McLaughlin et al, 1973).

Maslow predictably stated that the motivation-oriented theory would serve the purpose of overthrowing the preciously established theories which were based on hedonism. The discoveries of the motivation theory were to serve in doing away with the previous establishments and thus establish a more efficient theory contrary to existing behavioral and psychoanalytic theories. The hierarchy of human needs was thus the first theory of motivation (Rausch et al, 1998). These theories embodied the five goals which form the pillars of the Maslow needs hierarchy theory. The systemic relationship between these hierarchical needs is that the basic needs once met pave way for more advanced need in the need’s hierarchy pyramid. This conclusive design indicated that the most salient needs dominate the organism and hence motivates the behavioral pattern. The relativity of these needs in the hierarchy is thigh not absolutely definite as it is that though the basic needs may dominate the organism, the other needs may as well have an influence even when the basic needs have not been satisfactorily met. Hence to develop clear observation of the human behaviors and thus establish a predictability mechanism of the behavioral tendency, all these needs have to be kept in consideration and their impact assessed (Poduska, 1992).

Essentially the four basic needs of human beings can be considered as deficiency needs. In this case there is no satisfaction achieved through meeting of this needs though if the needs are not met, then a lot of anxiety and paternal behavior may be experienced. These deficiency needs thus cease to motivate behavior once they are met. The distinction between these deficiency needs and the higher needs in the Maslow needs hierarchy system is that once the higher needs are met, they still continue to influence behavior through motivation Santrock (John et al, 2008).

These needs are accomplished by the pinnacle need which is self-actualization and it is clearly evident that meeting of this need continues to motivate behavior after it has been met. This is due to the fact that this pinnacle need is never satisfactory in the sense that an individual can never get enough of it. On the contrary, satisfaction of this need satisfaction motivated more vicious pursuit of this need (Taormina et al, 2013). This argument justifies the case that human beings are perpetually wanting animals and satisfaction of one need opens room for requirement of satisfaction of the next need whereas non-satisfaction of a need may result in negative consequences. Not only is non-satisfaction of a need detrimental, but as well the threat to non-satisfaction of the need may result in detriments in the functionality if the being and thus result in negative consequences as well.

Another higher ranked need is the need for esteem as well as self-respect. This need is likely to occur once the lower ranked needs are met which are physiological as well as love needs. Thus, people in society prefer to be held in high regard and thus the high regard be reflective of their social status. This calls for higher appraisal of an individual by society. Thus, the opinion of others about an individual are placed upon more importance than simple social regard. Self esteem is grounded upon the actual capacity held by and individual ion society as well as the individual’s achievements and the respect that an individual gather from others (Wahba et al, 1976). The fulfillment of these need can be measured though one’s self-assessment as well as assessment report by trusted confidants. These developments of self-esteem thus lead to development of worth, self-confidence, self-belief in capabilities as well as strength. Once these needs are met the individual is propelled to higher goals through the dynamism in their resulting behavior. As a result of this increment in productivity as well as desirable adjustments come about hence improving the optimality of the individual.

References

Bailey, G. D., & Pownell, D. (1998). Technology Staff-Development and Support Programs: Applying Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Learning & Leading with Technology, 26(3), 47.

Benson, S. G., & Dundis, S. P. (2003). Understanding and motivating health care employees: Integrating Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, training and technology. Journal of Nursing Management, 11(5), 315–320. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1046/j.1365-2834.2003.00409.x

Cao, H., Jiang, J., Oh, L. B., Li, H., Liao, X., & Chen, Z. (2013). A Maslow's hierarchy of needs analysis of social networking services continuance. Journal of Service Management, 24(2), 170-190.

Fisher, E. A. (2009). Motivation and leadership in social work management: A review of theories and related studies. Administration in Social Work, 33(4), 347–367. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1080/03643100902769160

Henricks, T. S. (2014). Play as self-realization: toward a general theory of play. American Journal of Play. 6(2), 190-213. 

Ivancevich, J. M. (1969). Perceived need satisfactions of domestic versus overseas managers. Journal of Applied Psychology, 53(4), 274–278. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1037/h0027854

Lester, D. (2013). Measuring Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Psychological Reports, 113(1), 15–17. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.2466/02.20.PR0.113x16z1

Maslow, Abraham H. (1971) The Farther Reaches of Human Nature, New York: Penguin Books.

Maslow, Abraham H. (ed.) (1959) New Knowledge in Human Values, New York: Harper & Row.

McLaughlin, G. W., & Butler, R. P. (1973). Perceived importance of various job characteristics by West Point graduates. Personnel Psychology, 26(3), 351–358. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.1973.tb01142.x

Poduska, B. (1992). Money, marriage, and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. American Behavioral Scientist, 35(6), 756–770. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1177/0002764292035006010

Rausch, E., & Stark, E. (1998). Strengthening management education and development with non-prescriptive guidelines for the management/leadership aspects of decision. Journal of Workplace Learning, 10(6–7), 332–336. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1108/13665629810236327

Santrock, John W. Educational Psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2008.

Tanner, R. (2014). Motivation – Applying Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory. Management is a Journey.

Taormina, R. J., & Gao, J. H. (2013). Maslow and the motivation hierarchy: Measuring satisfaction of the needs. The American Journal of Psychology, 126(2), 155–177. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.5406/amerjpsyc.126.2.0155

Wahba, M. A., & Bridwell, L. G. (1976). Maslow reconsidered: A review of research on the need hierarchy theory. Organizational behavior and human performance, 15(2), 212-240.

Wieck, K. L. (2007). Motivating and intergenerational workforce: Scenarios for success. Orthopaedic Nursing, 26(6), 366–373. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1097/01.NOR.0000300948.88494.9b

Wininger, S. R., Norman, A. D. (2010). Assessing coverage of Maslow’s theory in educational psychology textbooks: a content analysis. Teaching Educational Psychology. 6(1), 33-48.

Wofford, J. C. (1971). The motivational bases of job satisfaction and job performance. Personnel Psychology, 24(3), 501–518. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.1971.tb00373.x

Wolf, M. G. (1970). Need gratification theory: A theoretical reformulation of job satisfaction/dissatisfaction and job motivation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 54(1, Pt.1), 87–94. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1037/h0028664