Maslow as a Catering Manager a Transplant

Maslow

As a catering manager a transplant hospital, describe factors influence people work place behave-based explain apply recognized theory motivation (Abraham Maslow) team improve performance.

Maslow: The hierarchy of needs

The theorist Abraham Maslow created a hierarchy of needs to describe what individuals sought out of life. The first level of the Maslow hierarchy is made up of basic needs, like food, shelter and clothing. The second level consists of the need for security, including fear of bodily harm. After that need is satisfied there a third need for belonging and social acceptance, followed by a fourth need for esteem (approval from other people). Only after these needs are met is a person capable of satisfying the highest-level need of self-actualization, or achieving a higher purpose in life (Maslow's hierarchy of needs, 2010, Honolulu College).

This is important to remember when managing a workplace because a critical aspect of Maslow's theory is that an individual cannot and will not want to satisfy higher-level needs when lower-level needs are not fulfilled. A good example of this is a company that tries to get away with paying its workers substandard wages and marginal benefits, yet tries to use inspiring slogans to motivate the employees to perform at a high level. Employees will not be able to focus upon their tasks and perform them in an effective fashion if they are hungry, or worried about the safety of the workplace -- and the fact that they have no health insurance.

The catering division of a healthcare facility, it could be argued, has an additional moral obligation to ensure that worker's basic needs are met. It is supposed to provide food for and improve the health of patients. Showing a lack of concern for its own employees' basic welfare subverts its purpose as an organization. To better achieve its objectives, ensuring employees are provided with a fair wage and basic healthcare is essential. Allowing employees regular breaks to eat (preferably providing them with a free lunch or a subsidized lunch) and giving them the security of healthcare, would improve employee morale and conscientiousness.

Regardless of their official job title, employees desire a sense of fellowship and belongingness at work. Creating a relaxed work environment, allowing jokes and taking time to have fun makes the pressures of work deadlines seem less burdensome. Caterers must work at a breakneck pace; when there is a moment for workers to breathe, managers should not penalize them or force them to engage in busy work merely to seem occupied. Work is more than a series of tasks: a workplace should feel like a community.

After a true community feeling has been generated, every worker should also sense his or her importance in the organizational hierarchy. Workers desire a sense of empowerment and esteem from his or her employment. Taking time to recognize employees who go above and beyond what is required is critical to fulfilling the need for esteem all employees possess. This also means promoting employees who do a good job, not relying upon favoritism or nepotism.