Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

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Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
The Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a theory of human motivation that was developed by Abraham Maslow who was a psychologist. In this theory he made use of a pyramidal scheme to represent human needs beginning from basics to luxurious.Maslow highlighted how these needs are related to human motivation through their gratification. He grouped these needs into various categories which are normally referred to as stages. These includes physiological needs, safety needs, social(love and belonging),self esteem and self-actualization..
Organizations can effectively increase the employees’ motivation by tactfully implementing the Maslows stages of hierarchy through the integration of various incentives for each stage. Each individual’s needs must be satisfied at the lower levels before attempting to progress to the higher, more complex levels. However when low level needs is accomplished, the individuals are no longer motivated by them and they tend to focus on the next level. As each level of needs is met, individuals normally progress to higher-level motivators but all the needs are normally present Physiological needs are the lowest on the needs pyramid that have to be satisfied first and acts as the foundation stage because they have to be satisfied first, higher needs in the hierarchy can’t be met until the basic needs are satisfied, these needs include food, education, good shelter, fresh air, water and sleep (Ackers Et al. 1996).
An individual who is lacking one of these tends to behave in such a way that will enable him or her obtain them irrespective of the cost. Once the given stage’s needs have been achieved it will cease to motivate the individual, the organizations should make sure that in their framework, the employees’ basic needs such as rest period, work breaks, lunch breaks and remunerations (wages/salary) are fulfilled there by eliminating the constant thoughts about these needs.
The second needs’ stage is safety from physical and emotional harm. Once the first stage has been fulfilled the focus will be shifted to this stage of the hierarchy which can not be a motivating stage until the first level of needs has been achieved (Chapman, 2001). In an organization these includes job security, seniority, pension and medical insurance. In the day to day interactions in life safety needs are mainly composed of security, protection and stability in the physical and interpersonal unfolding.
For an individual to continue to excel he/she must be granted total freedom from fear. The employee who works under the consistent watch of a supervisor/boss with threats for termination over inadequate performance then he /she will be unable to focus on the job, unnessessary pressure negatively affects the quality of the employee’s work therefore leading to unsatisfaction (Maslow, 1954). Organizations should therefore ensure a work friendly environment to motivate the employees.
The third stage includes social needs which mainly concerns love and belonging in once relationship with others. Individuals’ need to be loved, accepted and belong somewhere in the society they therefore join religious, social, educational and fraternal organizations. Friendship are beneficial to people at home and even at workplaces, employees and employers should therefore be encouraged to realize the importance of these of such associations, this is where the needs begin in the needs pyramid, the social needs are very important for employees to maintain interaction in the organization, everyone needs friendship and a sense of belonging.
Human beings are extremely social creatures therefore organizations should realize the importance of these needs to enable their employees achieve higher levels of Maslows hierarchy, the need for establishing relations that are enjoyable at workplaces should therefore not be underestimated by an organization. A good organization should continuously provide social incentives to the employees, these may include workgroups,teamworks and company sponsored outings that will tend to boost employees morale and hence productivity (Saleebey, 2006).
Consequently after the social needs have been successfully b...