Influenced by human relations school, Maslow argued that human beings are “wanting” animals: They have the desires to satisfy a given set of needs (Ricky W. Griffin and Gregory Moorhead, p.86). Maslow viewed human needs as climbing a ladder from the bottom to the top and he concluded that once one set of needs is satisfied, human unconsciously moved to the next step of the hierarchy ladder. For example, once the needs for food are satisfied, human tends to be energised and motivated enough to pursue the safety needs.
Maslow’s also believed that needs ceased to be a motivator once the craving for it is satisfied. Below is the hierarchy of needs as stipulated by Maslow:
(Alan Chapman, 2012)
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs consists of five categories as illustrated on the above diagram.
Psychology Needs
The bottom need which Maslow’s labelled the psychological needs, are the basics of needs human being need for it survival. Without fulfilling these needs, Maslow believed we can’t progress to the higher rank of the hierarchy.
Listed below are some of the basics needs of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs:
Food
Water
Sex
Air
Sleep
All these are what we need to sustain and maintain our existence as human being. We are all motivated and strive hard to achieve these needs. According to Maslow, only when we are satisfied with the psychology needs that we can concentrate and focus on achieving others needs.
Safety Needs
With foods in the stomach, individual is motivated to think of safety environment, job security, health insurance etc. Once the biological/ psychology needs were fulfilled, our attentions and energy is directed towards security, protections, stability etc. Maslow believed these need are vital for our survivals but less demanding than the biological needs.
Belongingness and Loves needs
Once the psychology and safety needs met, it becomes an instinctive to aim beyond what we already have. Here, Maslow believed human being will be motivated to seek some sense of belongingness by means of association.
Esteem needs
After the first three needs have been fulfilled, esteem needs becomes vital means of motivation. Maslow believed at the stage, our reputation, degree of importance, recognition etc. will be our motivators. But individual won’t get to this stage unless the lower three stages are been satisfied.
Self actualisation needs
This is the highest point of Maslow’s pyramid of needs; at this stage people have attained their potentials. Not everyone will reach this stage of the hierarchy. Even those who get to this point of the hierarchy never stop aiming for something else as human needs are endless. Motivators at this point are usually thing like justice, truth, wisdom, meaning etc.
Process Theory of Motivation (Locke’s Goal-setting theory)
Process theories explain how people select behavioural actions to meet their needs and determine whether their choices were successful (Richard L. Daft 2010, p.412).
The process theory of motivation that will be discussed in this essay is goal-setting theory by Edwin Locke’s. Locke’s believed managers can improve motivations of it staffs and enhance performance by setting specific, goal difficulty/challenging, achievable goals and by helping people track their progress toward goal attainment by providing timely and fair feedback.
The main features of goal-setting theory as stated by Locke and Latham (1990) are as follows:
Goal difficulty: people are most likely to me motivated by challenging task than a simple task; so it is ideal for a manager to set difficult tasks for the staffs in other to encourage them to work hard towards achieving it.
Goal specificity: goal should be clear and written in the language understood by the employees; it should also contain less ambiguity.
Participation: mutual participation encourages employees to work towards achieving the goals set–out by the employers as participating create a sense of belonging.
Acceptance: the goals should be thoroughly explain to the people concerned, as understanding of goals will lead to the willingness to pursue the goals and the acceptance of the goals.
Feedback: making available performance information will allow employees to adjust their behaviour based on the outcome of the result, in most cases; giving feedback often improves future performances.
Even with the goal-setting features listed above, manager setting goals should always remember that goals should be SMART.
Specific: just as explained above, goal should not be ambiguous
Measurable: it should be measureable via performance indicators
Achievable: it should be attainable, no need giving a task that is impossible to achieve.
Relevant: It should be relevant and meaningful to the employees carrying out the tasks.
Time bound: the timescale for achieving the goals should be agreed and recorded by the party involved.
Similarity of Maslow Motivational Needs and Locke’s and Latham’s Goal Setting theory
To some extent, the bottom four needs in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can be incubated into the goal setting theory; looking at it based on individual/group perspectives.
Level 5, 4, 3 and 2 of the Maslow’s theory are what individual/group could formulate their goal-setting target upon. It is apparent that we all need to satisfy the psychology, safety, social and esteem needs; the lack of these needs is enough to motivate us to aim for it. Individual or group could set goals to accumulate enough food to cater for the needs for food.
For example: parents have their goals-setting target based around providing foods, shelter, family’s bonding at the same time commanding the respect of their broods. All these goals are what Maslow’s was referring to in the bottom 4 of his hierarchy of needs.
These are called deficiency needs and we can set goals and target around achieving the needs.
Table of contrasts
Applicability within work place/Organisation
Hierarchy of needs application at work
The applicability’s of the hierarchy of needs vary from one level to another, the below table explained how the different stages of the hierarchy of need are applied in the work place:
Organisation who facilitate for these needs in the company policy tends to maximum output in terms of staff performance as employees are more likely to me fulfilled and motivated to work harder.
Locke’s and Latham’s goal-setting theory at work
This is the most efficient theory in term of application at work place. Here manager/supervisor gives task to lower staffs within a time-frame, set the objectives and the expected outcome of the task. Goal-setting is prevalent in most or all service organisations as these companies are result-driven hence target has to be set to meet up with the result.
Limitations of these theories (Maslow and Locke theory)
Conclusions
Motivation is an important part of our daily existence; what drives us towards achieving goals is a question of how much we perceived the attainment of the target. This drives are mostly innate hence it cannot be accessed by an outsiders. However, the output of the drives is quantifiable and can be measures by performance indicators.
This essay has focused great amount of time explaining the process and content theories of motivation. The differences of these theories were analysed, also looked at are how these theories can be apply at work place. The limitations of both theories were also looked at.
However, this essay does not rigidly recommend the use of any particular theory. It is axiomatic that organisation that employed the use of different theories simultaneously yielded high performance results from its employees.
References
Ricky W. Griffin, 2009. Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations. 9 Editions. South-Western College Pub.
Alan Chapman. 2012. Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and diagrams of Maslow's motivational theory - pyramid diagrams of Maslow's theory. [ONLINE] Available at: . [Accessed 09 October 2012].
Richard L. Daft, 2010. Understanding Management (Available Titles Coursemate). 7 Edition. South-Western College Pub.
Barrie Pearson, 2003. The Book of Me: Life Coach Yourself to Success. Edition. Thorogood.
Albert J. Mills, 2006. Organizational Behaviour in a Global Context. 1 Edition. University of Toronto Press, Higher Education Division.
John R. Schermerhorn, 2012. Management. 11 Edition. Wiley.