How can organizations attempt to meet these needs so that employees are motivated to produce more work? Discuss the answer in detail.
According to Abraham Maslow (1970), there is a hierarchy of needs that define human development. These are: Basic Needs (food, shelter, clothing), Safety, Love and Belonging, Skill Accomplishment and Self-Actualization. In Maslow's view, as each need becomes adequately satisfied, the next highest need becomes dominant. The first three are deficiency needs because they must be satisfied if the individual is to be healthy and secure. The last two are growth needs because they are related to the development and achievement of one's potential (Maslow, 1970). In Maslow's view, as long as we are motivated to satisfy our deficiency needs, then we are moving in a positive direction towards personal growth. In other words, satisfying needs is healthy, while blocking satisfaction is essentially unhealthy (Maslow, 1970)
In applying this hierarchy of needs to employee motivation strategies, it is important to view employees at learners. Maslow suggests that people will only focus on their higher level needs after a considerable amount of the lower level needs have been met. Only then will they seek to explore their personal potential. Therefore, employee motivation strategies must function in much the same way as the teaching and learning process functions. They must build from an original starting point, placing new layers of knowledge upon older layers of knowledge. But the new layers must not be added to soon, or there will be serious setbacks, sometimes resulting in the entire structure crumbling.
When employees feel knowledgeable...
When they feel uninformed or incompetent, they are likely to become de-motivated because their path towards the top of the hierarchy is blocked. Therefore, employers need to be supportive and encouraging, as well as communicative about any knowledge employees need to know to perform their jobs better.
As employees move into latter phases of the hierarchy, employers can enhance their self-esteem by encouraging them to experience the feeling of satisfaction that can come from successful accomplishments. There is nothing quite as motivating as success and there is nothing quite as de-motivating as failure. Therefore, employers need to make sure that even when an employee proposes an absurd idea, or makes a minor mistake on an invoice, that instead of simply telling them that they are wrong, they explore the path to the more accurate conclusion together. This will help the employee feel they have succeeded, even if they have not performed perfectly. According to Maslow, this reinforcement will motivate the employee to continue to strive for self-actualization because it does not seem so ominous or impossible anymore. Goals need to be reachable and attainable, or they only result in disappointment and self-defeating behaviors. Once the employee begins to feel confident that he can make a valuable contribution to the company, the more motivated he will be to continue along a positive path. Receiving positive reinforcements for his achievements solidifies that path even further.
References
Maslow, a., (1970) Motivation and personality, 2nd ed., Harper & Row (orig. 1954)
