Comparing Maslow's hierarchy of needs with expectancy theory of motivation

¶ … Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs With Expectancy Theories of Motivation

Comparing and Contrasting Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory With Expectancy Theory of Motivation

Anybody may be compelled to question the reason why people undertaker certain activities in the way they undertake them and not in a different way. This can be a challenging task as one might find, because possibly there might be no cheap answer. However, the subject has been of interest for several centuries. First were the philosophers who concentrated on the expectation of someone undertaking a task and how best one should live. Then came the modern times, when management thinking came to be and it interested in motivation of people, not only for them to be happy but also to be more productive (Droar 2006). Talking about motivation, it is a the strength arising from the mind/mental effort that dictates how an individual will behavior in an organization or work place, how much effort this individual has on his/her tasks and how this person continues firmly on his/her tasks whenever hurdles face him/her. To managers, their interest is to ensure implementation of strategies and thus they have the obligation to motivate their workers because loosing an employee can be very costly. In addition, managers need to motivate workers so that they can retain the valuable ones as well recruit the best to join the organization as this translates to success in implementing strategies. Through intrinsic reward (self-satisfaction on completing a task) and extrinsic reward (being recognized by others for good work done), employees are able to perform as managers expect, thus managers have to ensure they motivate their employees. As there are several motivation theories, only through comparing and contrasting one can establish which ones motivate workers more than others. Maslow's pyramid or hierarchy of needs theory of motivation has greater motivation to employees than Vroom's expectancy theory.

Comparing

First, Maslow's hierarchy theory as an earlier proposition, it creates the base on which Vroom's expectancy theory, a later edition, builds on. Secondly, both the Expectancy and the Maslow's hierarchy of needs motivational theories, they both enable a person to modify his/her input (efforts to undertake a task) depending on the importance they have on the expected result in the entire procedure of undertaking that task and what they understand about input and output. For example, Maslow theory of motivation as a commonly known theory, it addresses needs of an individual in a hierarchy manner. It considers a single need and this need depends on already other satisfied needs. From an arrangement of how these needs need to fulfillment in a hierarchy manner, one can establish those that require early fulfillment than others. In addition, both theories allows an individual to establish which results are most likely to motivate people and this will dictate the best measures to take as factors of their experiences and expectations ( Droar 2006).

Maslow's understanding on the effect of unsatisfied needs relates to expectancy theory in that like Maslow, Vroom indicates in the expectancy theory that the need to fulfill unmet demands is what motivates individuals where such a person will make a concerned decision to undertake a certain task in a manner that he/she understands as satisfying that need. Therefore, high motivation will manifest where there is concise and quantified goals that for example in a team the team members understand how a task as achievable and how it would benefit them considerably. In cases of low motivation, team members usually become frustrated as they cannot define the best ways to undertake different tasks and for what rewards these tasks can bring to them (Yeatts and Hyten 1998, p. 64).

In addition, whenever an individual understands that he/she is lacking an essential item/want necessary for well-being, then this understanding will establish a need for that individual to undertake activities or behave in a manner that will lead to satisfying that particular need. Moreover, if someone understands that certain need is being satisfied, then this person will lack motivation to manifest characters/behaviors that associate with fulfilling the need (Yeatts and Hyten, 1998, p. 63). Considering this perspective in a work place, what this indicates is that financial benefits will act as a significant motivation tool until an understanding that the money is a way of fulfilling different categories of demands (basic needs). Contrary to this, if these people understand that such demands are fulfilling, then these people/employees will lack motivation to fulfill such needs and will rather establish other ways of fulfilling higher ranked needs touching self-esteem. The more the expectations employees have on their job, the greater the motivation they will have to perform. These approaches are common both the Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Vroom's expectancy theories of motivation.

Conclusion

In summary, Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory has greater motivation to employees compared to the expectancy theory. Although they compare in some aspects, the significantly differ in others. These two theories compare in Maslow theory creating a base from which expectancy theory develops from, both enabling a person to modify his/her input depending on the importance they have on the expected result after performing a task, as well as allowing an individual to establish which results are most likely to motivate them or others. Contrary to the similarities, expectancy theory concentrates on the needs rather than the results on a particular task where else Maslow's theory focuses on how the different needs associate with themselves and what it calls fro to satisfy them and allows managers to understand the significant needs active for specific employee ensuring motivation. Expectancy theory separates effort, performance, and achievement of a certain task making it difficult and sophisticated for many individuals to explore their potentials because the effort to undertake a task will relate to the surrounding and capability to dictate the resulting achievement/performance of a person. This can be a complex process. Therefore, Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory of motivation is more realistic and cheaper in motivating compared to expectancy theory of motivation.