Literature Review on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Essay

Literature Review

Abraham Maslow is considered the Father of Motivational theories.

In this book, Maslow's theory is that human needs are arranged in a hierarchy composed of five categories. The lowest-level needs are physiological needs and the highest-level needs are self-actualization. As the lower needs are fulfilled higher needs emerge. These Higher needs cannot be satisfied unless lower needs are fulfilled. He states that a satisfied need is not a Motivator. The hierarchy of needs at work in the individual today is a routine tool and when the needs are active, they act as powerful conditioners of behavior i.e. as motivators. In this hierarchy of needs the five main needs of men are Physiological needs, Safety needs, Social needs, Ego or Esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. These five basic needs are regarded as the striving needs.

Physiological needs- Under Physiological or Body needs the person moves up the ladder responding first to the physiological needs for Food, Shelter, and Clothing.

Safety needs- The next is safety needs i.e. the needs of the person to be safe and free from all dangers which can be from the people or the environment. Here the person wants to be assured that once his physiological needs are satisfied, he is secure and will continue to be satisfied in the future. These safety needs can be in the form of job security, security against any diseases or old age, etc.

Social Needs- In social needs, the person feels the desire to work in a group of people and develop belongingness and identification in the group. Here the person develops the need to love and to be loved by the people around him. Maslow says that every employee wants to feel that he is wanted and accepted by other people.

Ego or Esteem needs- In Ego or Esteem needs as we keep moving up the person then feels the need or desire for status, recognition, and respect in society or the workplace. E.g.: the need for achievement, self-confidence, knowledge, etc. This means a feeling that an employee is respected by the supervisor or the people around him and contributes to the organization's goals.

Self-Actualization needs- Self-actualization or self-realization needs are the upper lever needs where when satisfied the person provides insights to support the future regarding the workplace. The person becomes Growth-oriented, Self-oriented, and Creative.

• Performance management- Measure and Improve the Effectiveness of your Employees Author- Harvard Business Essentials Year of publication- 2010 ISBN ' 1591398428

This book provides various information on personal coaching and guidance on various aspects of business. This book helps a person to improve the effectiveness of the people working for them. The book provides various ideas on employee performance and its impacts with practical suggestions. It explains the importance of goals and effective goal sharing and if the individual's goals are not aligned with the organization's goals then problems are faced by the company. It focuses on the importance of motivation. The Author says that if one needs his employees to pursue their goals then he must make it a point that he is sufficiently motivated to do so. The book also talks about monitoring performance and catching the identified problems.

The book teaches managers to Plan, Direct, motivate, and control and use coaching to close performance gaps, teach skills, and motivate. He says that good managers are always looking for coaching opportunities. The book also talks about 360-degree appraisal used for effective performance appraisal of an employee.

• Reward Management- Employee Performance, Motivation and Pay Author ' David Hume Year of publication ' 1995 ISBN - 10-061196234

In this book, the Author David Hume discusses all the aspects of reward management i.e. performance-related pay, equal work for equal pay and pay structures, pension schemes and rewards systems, and remuneration packages for expatriate employees.

To motivate and retain an effective workplace the organization must have an appropriate reward strategy. The book also includes employee performance, theories of motivation, performance management, remuneration, job evaluation, benefits, pension schemes, and managing reward systems. This book gives practical suggestions on reward management and discusses policies and key components of the total remuneration packages.

• Improving Employee performance through appraisal and coaching Author- Donald Kirkpatrick Year of publication- 2016 ISSN ' 2289-4519

In this book, the author says that managers can make performance appraisal a part of employee improvement. For improving the employee's performance through appraisal and coaching, the author focuses on three major areas i.e., clarifying expectations from the employees, coaching employees to improve the employee's performance, and appraising the employees. This book helps managers to evaluate appraisal interviews. This book provides managers the guidelines for conducting appraisal interviews, focusing on the employee's performance rather than their personality and encouraging them to talk. The Author looks at the most common mistakes made by managers in overseeing performance improvement plans and covers them under performance improvement plans, providing continuous help to the employees and making changes whenever required. This book also offers information about creating effective performance review systems and training courses.

• 365 ways to Motivate and Reward your Employees every day with little or no money Author- Dianna Podmoroff Year - 2005 ISBN ' 0-910627-51-7

In this book, the author Dianna says motivation is a universal concept and that motivators are individuals. According to this book motivation is the inner force that drives people to achieve their personal and professional goals. She discusses why motivation is so important in the workplace. She says that motivated employees are productive and motivation also brings about a positive energy in the environment. Motivated employees tend to be happy and satisfied in the workplace. She also talks about the common motivational myths that money is the only motivator or fear of job loss that motivates the employees to work in the organization but she says that there are two perspectives on motivation they are known as internal and external motivators.

Internal motivators are what influence a person to pursue a particular job career education or other activities she says that these internal motivators are resistant to change which means there are no outside influences in internal motivators. If people who have internal motivating factors are hired then they are easily satisfied with the type of work they have been given or by the goals of the organization. This can also increase the level of motivation in the workplace.

External motivators are where people receive what the world offers them as a response to their inner drives. Some basic external motivators can be work opportunities or some special skills. It can also be wages or rewards and recognition in the workplace. This book provides a survey of what motivates the employees most. It also provides the methods of management that can increase employees' motivation and performance.

• Motivating your team author- Douglas Miller Editition- 1st Year of publication ' 2014 ISBN ' 9781292062990

The Book discusses some actions managers should take that will help the people in the organization to work more effectively and be motivated. The book talks about what can motivate the employees and what is it that demotivates them and should be taken care of. It tells about the different management styles and techniques to get the best of the people in the workplace. It provides managers with insights and acts as a guide to motivate people along with practical suggestions turning ideas and different motivational theories into reality. The book also talks about Frederick Herzberg's theory of motivation

• Frederick Herzberg ' Motivator ' Hygiene Theory

This theory is divided into two dimensions. The first dimension is called Hygiene Factors

They include salary, work environment Policy and procedures, and status. According to Herzberg the absence of the above factors can demotivate the employees in the workplace but also that they are of no use for a long time. He says that these factors act as avoidance of pain and provide little comfort Only. What he calls a motivator is just b match i.e. what matches with yourself about what kind of a person you are and whether that job suits you and your interests.

He divides these motivators into subgroups that provide satisfaction i.e. job match, goals, and purpose, and the achievements are recognized.

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• Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation - The search for optimal motivation and performance Author- Carol Sansone, Judith M. Harackiewicz Year ' 2000 ISBN- 0-21-6190704

This book explains what is intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is that intrinsic motivation is from within and extrinsic motivation is an external factor i.e., it comes from outside. The book talks about rewards and intrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic motivation is one's inner desire to learn new things and analyze their abilities and skills. This motivation comes naturally as it is driven by the interest of a person and he enjoys it.

Extrinsic motivation is the opposite of intrinsic reward. It comes from outside influences. Debates have pitted extrinsic motivators like rewards, and punishment against intrinsic motivation in determining which one of these two motivators is best for the employees.

The Author also focuses on the effects of rewards on the employee's performance and consists of reward studies. This book is divided into different parts which include a study on rewards, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, the meaning of motivation, and different theories of motivation and goal Theory

• The Human Side of Enterprise Author-Douglas McGregor Year- 1990 ISBN ' 978-0-07-146222-8

In this book, McGregor has introduced theories of human motivation in work and management. These theories are known for two styles of management i.e., Authoritarian which is Theory X, and Participative which is Theory Y. Theory X stands for the set of traditional beliefs and Theory Y stands for the beliefs based on researchers of behavioral science.

Theory X's assumption about human motivation was that people dislike work and feel too lazy to work and such people must be directed and controlled toward the organization's goals. McGregor states that Theory X management hinders the satisfaction of higher-level needs.

Theory Y's assumption about human motivation was that work can be natural if conditions are favorable and people learn to accept and seek responsibility. That most people can handle responsibility because of creativity. This theory is more likely to be accepted by the author as the person's personal goals can be aligned with the organizational goals. Theory Y seems desirable and productive.

• Human Motivation Author ' David McClelland Year- 1987 ISBN- 9780521369510

In this book, McClelland introduces the Achievement Need Theory of motivation. According to the Author there are three types of needs Need for Achievement, Need for Power, and the Need for Affiliation.

Need for Achievement- The book states that the need for achievement is the strongest motivating factor. It is the strongest as well as a lasting motivating factor. In this, a person is constantly occupied with a desire to improve. These people like to achieve goals and are focused and act as problem solvers.

Need for Power- Need for power is where a person has the desire to control other people's behaviors and be dominant and manipulate the surroundings. These people like to lead take initiative and control others. People feel a constant need to build good status about themselves under this type of motivation.

Need for Affiliation ' This is related to a person's social needs and helps in creating friendships. In this need for affiliation, people tend to form informal group circles or social circles and try to connect with people. These people avoid risks and try to build relationships with the people. These types of people desire to be loved and accepted by any people around them and favor collaboration over competition.

• Leadership and Motivation- Author- John Adair Year of publication-N ISBN- 10 0749447982

In this book, the author talks about what motivated the employees the most. The book compares different theories of motivation which are Maslow's theory of needs and Herzberg's theory but the book goes beyond these two theories and offers a new general theory of motivation. The book formulates the fifty-fifty rule which means that 50 percent of human motivation is inner generated and fifty percent of human motivation comes from outside.

This book leads us to some practical ways in which a person can motivate himself as well as others. This book also talks about Leadership and how leadership and Motivation are connected because a good leader motivates people. The Author states that every organization and its people are unique but they share three areas in common which are to achieve a common task or a goal, to work together in unity, and the needs that people bring into the groups.Along with the fifty rule, this book also provides a framework for motivation which are the 8 principles of motivation, and explains them in detail.

• Work motivation ' Past, Present And Future Author ' Year- ISBN-978-0- 8058- 5745-0

In this book, the importance of motivation for outcomes beyond job performance is another theme that runs through many chapters in this book. The Book discusses the three C's of work Motivation I.e. Content, Context, and Change. This book defines Workplace motivation and says that motivation varies from individual to individual and is a dynamic process that occurs over time. This book also provides statistical analysis and methods of motivation. This book discusses the Expectancy Theory.

• The book includes Structural Theories Along with Control Theory

Control Theory provides a dynamic view based on the interdependence of a person interacting with the environment. Control Theory assumes a hierarchical structuring of goals with short-term and long-term goals.

Social Cognitive Theory is same as control theory as a process with feedback about goals progress being used by a person to make adjustments with the current actions. The basic argument is that motivation is the desire to achieve challenging goals.

• Managing Motivation Authors- Robert D. Pritchard, Elissa L. Ashwood Year of Publication- ISBN ' 13:978-1-84169-789-5

In this Book Motivation and Management, The Author explains why motivating people and understanding Motivation is so important. To increase the performance and to improve the effectiveness of the organization it is necessary to change how the people in the organization do the particular job. Motivational analysis can be used in any type of organization. The book also tells about some symptoms of low motivation and that Motivation includes persistence and effort. The authors say that motivation in the organization is a win-win situation as the company benefits from performance. Motivation is a process of turning energy into satisfying needs. The more fully our needs are met the more satisfied we feel and the more our needs are not met the more dissatisfied we feel.

Need satisfaction and need strength are different from each other as the need for strength is permanent in a person but need satisfaction is a temporary state that mostly motivates people to work more. Needs are the ultimate source of motivation and people cannot be motivated only by rewards If that does not satisfy their needs. The book talks about the five components of motivation which is Action, Results, Evaluation, Outcome, and Need Satisfaction.

• Action- Action is what people do by putting their efforts, their energy into something. These actions can be observed or unobserved.
• Evaluation- Evaluation are from formal to informal. They are assessments of values that result in create tor of a person.
• Outcome- Outcomes are the Good or bad things that happen as a result of the evaluation of the person's actions. They can even lead to satisfaction.
• Need satisfaction- This can be achieved by putting energy into the actions that will produce results be evaluated positively and lead to outcomes that satisfy needs.

The five components of the motivation process work together. The Author says that a well-planned motivation project will give higher chances of successfully motivating the employees.