Employee performance and his or her motivation is a key issue in an organization. The latter impacts the former: the more an employee is motivated, the better he is likely to perform. An important problem is that motivation is a complex undertaking: it is not always the financial package that is fundamental to an employee's performance. Studies have shown that employees are also motivated (quite often even more motivated) by other factors. Campion and Thayer (1985), for example, concluded, following their research, that the more jobs are created to include motivational factors, the lower the efforts to complete them and the better the well-being of the employees. As Sager (1978) mentions, "it is essential to determine what an individual likes or needs in his work if motivation is to occur."

This paper proposes an approach based on Maslow's Theory of Needs to understand the role of promotion in an organization as a motivational factor. The paper will start with a proposed issue in an organization: a well-prepared employee is turned down from promotion in favor of someone else, whom he perceives as being less qualified. Starting from Maslow, the paper will investigate the motivational impact of such an action. Because the theories of Alderfer and McClelland are also closely related, aspects from these studies will also be briefly presented and used in the argumentation.

As Baack (2012), among others, has summarized, Maslow proposes a hierarchy of five needs, starting with the simple physiological needs and becomes more complex as the needs from the previous level are satisfied. As such, the level 4 and 5 needs are needs for esteem and self-actualization. Esteem needs refer to the perception that others have of the individual (and how important and motivating this can be for the employee), while the need...

On a parallel level, these categories can also be classified as physical, social and psychological. McClelland's work is complementary in that he adds a series of new needs, which fit very well the issue previously presented of promotion. These needs include the need for achievement, the need for power and the need for affiliation.
The situation previously described perfectly fits into Maslow's fourth and fifth level of the hierarchy of needs. The idea of promotion is complex and should be analyzed from different perspectives. First of all, promotion as a motivational factor works on the employees need for the esteem of other employees and for his self-esteem. A promotion is the manner in which the organization's leadership recognizes the excellence of the employee's skills and of his performance in the organization. As a consequence of this justification, the fact that the employee is promoted reflects the fact that he is doing an excellent job, as well as the fact that management believes him capable to perform on a superior level. It shows trust both in present and future qualities and skills.

The motivation from the previous paragraph matches level four in Maslow's pyramid. However, a promotion is also a level five action. The individual cannot perform optimally in the same position in the organization for an unlimited period of time. He needs to be offered new challenges and the opportunity to develop. A promotion works exactly toward self-actualization: the employee can perform on a new…