Материал: Management-and-Organization-Behavior

Social Needs

At the third level, social needs or love needs become important. An individual cannot live an isolated life. A sense of affiliation becomes important for a meaningful life. These needs include the need for love, affection, companionship and social interaction. We know very well that at home the child needs the love of parents and at school he needs the friendship of his classmates.

This is to attain recognition from others which would induce a feeling of self-worth and self-confidence in the individual. It is an urge for status, prestige and power. Self-respect is the internal recognition while respect from others is the external recognition. People who are able to fulfill this need feel that they are useful and have some positive influence on their surrounding environment.

Self-actualization Needs

At the highest level is the need to develop and realize one’s capacities and potentialities to the fullest extent possible. This need gets activated as motivator when all other needs have been reasonably fulfilled. At this level, the person wants to excel in the skills and abilities that he is endowed with. As a result, he seeks challenging work assignments that require creativity and talent. This need is inner-oriented and the motivation is intrinsic in nature. A self-actualizing person is creative, independent, content, and spontaneous and has a good perception of reality. He constantly endeavors to realize his full potential.

In conclusion, it may be said that Maslow’s model explains human behaviour in general. It has nothing to do with the employee motivation at the work place. Further, human needs may not necessarily have the hierarchy as shown by him. The relative dominance of not able to satisfy the social needs may prompt a person to set the physiological needs and safety needs aside and motivate him for earning the love and affection of the family members and the friendship of his colleagues.

Maslow felt that the human needs have a definite sequence of domination. Second need does not dominate until first need is reasonably satisfied and third does not dominate until first two needs have been reasonably satisfied and so on. The other side of the need hierarchy is that

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man is a wanting animal, he continues to want something or the other. He is never fully satisfied, the other need arises. As said above (according to Maslow), needs arise in a certain order of preference and not randomly. Thus, if one’s lower level needs (physiological and security needs) are unsatisfied, he can be motivated only by satisfying his lower level needs and not satisfying his higher level needs. Another point to note is that once a need or a certain order of needs is satisfied, it cases to be a motivating factor. Man lives for bread alone as long as it is not available. In the absence of air one can’t live, but there is it is plenty of air which ceases to be motivating.

The physiological and security needs are finite, but the needs of higher order are sufficiently infinite and are likely to be dominant in persons at higher levels in the organisation. This has been proved by various studies. A study by Boris Blai supported this by showing that managers and professionals in U.S.A. highly value self-realisation, while service and manual workers in India reported that they give to priority to job security, earnings and personal benefits all lower order needs.

Appraisal of Need Hierarchy Model

The need priority model may not apply at all times in all places. Surveys in European countries and Japan have shown that the model does not apply very well to their managers. Their degree of satisfaction of needs does not vary according to the need priority model. For example, workers in Spain and Belgium felt that their esteem needs are better satisfied than their security and social needs. Apparently, cultural differences are an important cause of these differences. Thus, need hierarchy may not follow the sequence postulated by Maslow.

Another important proposition that one need is satisfied at one time is also a doubtful validity. Man’s behaviour at any time mostly guided by multiplicity of motives. However, one or two motives in any situation may be more dominant, while others may be of secondary importance.

There are always some people in whom, for instance, need for self-esteem seems to be more prominent than that of love. There are also creative people in whom the drive for creativeness seems to be more important. In certain people, the level of operation may be permanently

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lower. For instance, a person who has experienced chronic unemployment may continue to be satisfied for the rest of his life if only he can get enough food.

HERZBERG’S Two Factor theory of MOTIVATION

A significant development in motivation theory was distinction between motivational and maintenance factors in job situation. A research was conducted by Herzberg and his associates based on the interview of 200 engineers and accountants who worked for eleven different firms in Pittsburgh area. These men were asked to recall specific incidents in their experience which made them feel particularly bad about jobs. The findings of the research led to draw a distinction between what are called as ‘motivators’ and ‘hygiene factors’. To this group of engineers and accountants, the real motivators were opportunities to gain expertise and to handle more demanding assignments. Hygiene factors served to prevent loss of money and efficiency. Thus, hygiene factors provide no motivation to the employees, but the absence of these factors serves as dissatisfies.

Some job conditions operate primarily to dissatisfy employees. Their presence does not motivate employees in a strong way. Many of these factors are traditionally perceived by management as motivators, but the factors are really more potent as dissatisfiers. They are called maintenance factors in job because they are necessary to maintain a reasonable level of satisfaction among the employees. Their absence proves to be strong dissatisfiers. They are also known as ‘dissatisfiers’ or ‘hygienic factors’ because they support employees’ mental health. Another set of job conditions operates primarily to build strong motivation and high job satisfaction among the employees. These conditions are ‘Motivational Factors’. Herzberg’s maintenance and motivational factors have been shown in the table given below.

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for some managerial employees. Herzberg’s model adds to the Maslow’s need hierarchy model because it draws a distinction between the two groups of factors, namely, motivational and maintenance, and points out that the motivational factors are often derived from the job itself. Most of the maintenance factors come under comparatively lower order needs. In economically advanced countries, such needs of the employees are fulfilled and hence cease to be motivators.

As shown in the following diagram Maslow’s Physiological, security and social needs come under Herzberg’s maintenance factors whereas selffulfillment comes under motivating factors. It may further be noted that a part of esteem need comes under maintenance factor and another under motivational factors. The esteem needs are divided because there are some distinct differences between status per se and recognition. Status tends to be a function of position one occupies. This position may be gained through family ties or social pressures and so this may not be a reflection of personal achievement or recognition. Recognition is gained through competence and achievement. It is earned and granted by others. That is why status is classified with physiological, safety and social needs as a hygiene factor, while recognition is classified with esteem as a motivator.

Motivational factors

Selffulfillment

Esteem

Social

Safety

Physiological

Maintenance factors

Figure 16.3: Relationship between Maslow’s and Herzberg

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