The author has been asked to discuss and critically evaluate the work of Abraham Maslow.

The author has been asked to discuss and critically evaluate the work of Abraham Maslow. This will begin with a historical review of preceding philosophies, leading into an introduction to the theory as formulated by Maslow himself. In order to achieve the best understanding of Abraham Maslow’s theory, an open mind is always important. The researcher will appreciate where his theory developed from by evaluating previous theorists. Maslow’s theory has been questioned and criticised greatly over the years. These questions, criticisms, and the content of his theory will be discussed and evaluated.

The author will now discuss the preceding theorists; ¹Frederick Taylor is believed to be the ‘father’ of scientific management. His theories were based on a simple interpretation of human behaviour, but some of his methods have survived across the years. Taylor was the starting point of studying motivation in the workplace. He used a stopwatch to measure how long various activities took and sought the most efficient methods of completing tasks. ‘Normal’ times in which duties should be completed were then proposed, and individual performance was assessed against these. Efficiency, ²Taylor argued, would improve productivity, competitiveness, and profits. This required employees to be organised, closely supervised and paid piece rate (according to how much they produced). Pay schemes were formulated to reward or penalise workers. The greatest concern was to

¹ Management and Organisational Behaviour, 6th Edition, p.55-57

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improve efficiency in both workers and management. He believed his methods of scientific management would encourage improved management-labour relations, thus ameliorating industrial effectiveness and success.

Many companies that adopted Taylor’s approach believed that it gave them a real competitive advantage, and the principles were widely adopted throughout United States industry as well as in European countries such as Germany and France. At first the scheme seemed to work; output was seen to increase in many situations. As efficiency increased, however, fewer workers were needed to complete tasks therefore managers began reducing the size of the wage incentive and increasing amounts of workers were laid off. ³Deci (1971) discovered that paying people for a task they enjoy doing can reduce their interest in it, thus contradicting Taylor’s theory. Taylorism still exists today; a prime example is McDonalds Restaurants. Managers run their business solely on Taylor’s theory, their employers are paid low wages for menial tasks, which are to be completed within small time scales.

4The turning point in the development of the human relations movement was with the Hawthorne experiments at the Western Electric Company in America, and the

³

4 Introduction to Organisational Behaviour, p.8

publication of the research findings. Among the people who wrote about the Hawthorn experiments was Elton Mayo. He is often quoted as being the leader of the researchers.

5Elton Mayo was a follower of Frederick Taylor’s methods; he

followed Taylor’s scientific principles by testing the impact on productivity when altering the lighting within a factory. ...