Human needs arrange themselves in hierarchies of prepotency.

That is to say, the

appearance of one need usually rests on the prior satisfaction of another, more pre-potent need.
Man is a perpetually wanting animal (Maslow,1943). His needs are evermore accumulating. These
needs tend him to act in certain ways to satisfy them. Therefore, acting as motivators and affecters
of behavior. However, his motivators only include his unsatisfied needs. His satisfied needs do not
influence his behavior. It is with this observation, also proven with his clinical experience, that
Abraham Maslow created the Hierarchy of Needs, a motivational theory in psychology comprising
a ve-tier model of human needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid (McLeod,
2016). This hierarchy shows the dominance of a pre-potent need among individuals. A pre-potent
need is the one that has the greatest power or influence over our actions (Griffin). The hierarchy
also implies that everyone has their own pre-potent needs, but they vary among individuals. For
example, I may be needing for love and belongingness while you may be craving for something
physiological, say, a candy bar or simply just food.

The hierarchy comprises of physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness and love
needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization. Needs are arranged in an order of importance or
hierarchy from the basic physiological to the complex self-actualization needs. An individuals
need at any level on the hierarchy emerges only when the lower needs are reasonably satisfied
(Baridam, 2002).

As the theory suggests, every person has their own pre-potent need and that this need
affects how he behaves toward his activities, peers, and even life itself. We know that an
organization, whether for profit or not-for-profit, is made up of people of ages, races, and genders.
This further means that their involvement in the group can be dictated by their individual needs
needs that have to be gratified by the management to extract the best from the members. The
question is, how can the management of the organization respond to these varying needs?

At the base of the hierarchy lies the physiological needs. These are the basic needs we
have: food, water, sleep, shelter, sex, and other bodily needs. The body constantly craves for any
of these needs, and when we feel depravity of any of these needs, we feel distress. We lose our
focus in doing things and even act in unusual ways. Undoubtedly these physiological needs are the
most pre-potent of all needs. What this means specifically is, that in the human being who is
missing everything in life in an extreme fashion, it is most likely that the major motivation would
be the physiological needs rather than any others. A person who is lacking food, safety, love, and
esteem would most probably hunger for food more strongly than for anything else (Maslow, 1943).
When he is dominated by his hunger, all his other needs are set aside. His work becomes
inefficient; thus, he becomes unproductive. For an organization, an unproductive employee is a
huge problem. What can the management do to satisfy this urge is to simply provide him what he
needs. This is why business establishments have pantries, food vending machines, or simply just
a coffee room. A hungry employee can satisfy his hunger by getting food from the pantry or just
drinking a cup of coffee or tea. Say, a person is tired rather than hungry, management can bring
up work breaks so that employees can rest for a while. He can relax for a moment from the
monotonous work he does and the stress it brings. More importantly, managers can provide
satisfaction to these needs through workers salaries itself. Besides, money can buy one food when
he is hungry, or a bottle of water when he is thirsty. His salary can accumulate to make him capable
of providing himself shelter. He can bring his bodily needs at ease when he has money, and in
turn, he can be more productive with his work. Money in exchange for employee work for the
satisfaction of his need is one move to motivate individuals who have dominant physiological
needs.

How about those whose physiological needs are satisfied? What happens to their psyche?
When this need is satisfied, the higher tier needs come prevailing. Next on Maslows hierarchy are
safety needs. Picture our hungry employee from before, only that he has already eaten. His hunger
is now satisfied, and at his current state, is not needing of anything physiological. However, he
thinks, what if he gets hungry again after 3 hours? What will he do? Where will he get the resources
to satisfy his need? This is where safety needs come in. Our hungry employee seeks now to
continually satisfy himself of his needs, making himself secure that he will never have to be
deprived of his physiological needs ever again. Therefore, he does not only think of now, but he
also considers the future.

Naturally we try to avoid a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. But once weve managed a
certain level of physical comfort, well seek to establish stability and consistency in a chaotic world
(Griffin). The question is, how can we manage a certain level of physical comfort? Think of a call
center agent. He has satisfied his basic needs food, shelter, water, everything. But, can he assure
himself he is safe from all danger? This is where management comes in. To bring in a sense of
safety to our call center agent, the management provides him with benefits, medical benefits,
pension plans, loans, and other benefits. It is not just our call center agent that receives these
benefits, but all other employees too. However, lets focus on our call center agent. Other than the
net pay he receives from work, he also receives incentives whenever he gets over his quota. He
also gets medical aid from health insurance companies in the form of a health card such as
Medicard. This is to secure his financials whenever he gets sick and needs strict medical treatment.
Other than that, his employers have a share in his contributions for the Social Security System to
assure him of his finances when he retires from work. His employer also contributes to PhilHealth,
Inc. to answer his medical needs; Pag-Ibig Mutual Fund to cover his expenses such as housing and
for calamities through loans. In this way, our call center agent is secured of his future when he
leaves his work, thus, motivating him to be more productive. It is also since he is assured that his
employer serves as his shoulder whenever something hits his way.

As an employee feels secure in the me aspects of his life, a new need emerges, one dealing
with other people. Now the person will feel keenly, as never before, the absence of friends, or a
sweetheart, or a wife, or children. He will hunger for affectionate relations with people in general,
namely, for a place in his group, and he will strive with great intensity to achieve this goal. He will
want to attain such a place more than anything else in the world and may even forget that once,
when he was hungry, he sneered at love (Maslow, 1943). Of course, no organization will be
productive if the members are independent and seldom interact with each other. Each and every
one within the organization need to work together and become like a tree, sturdy with branches
extending, each part as important as the other. However, this idea cannot be achieved if one feels
like he does not belong.

Let us take our call center agent again as an example. He is employed in a company where
there are different branches of call center services. There are sales, customer service, technical
service, and others. Say, he works in customer service. He belongs in that particular group, but
how can he say he really belongs? We can say if there is a sense of belongingness in the group if
nobody feels left out. If one is struggling, his co-workers will help him to get back on track. And,
there will be no crab mentality for our group. Now, how can we monitor if there is a sense of
camaraderie among employees?
 The role of the manager has a great impact in satisfying our call center agents
belongingness and love needs. He has to influence everyone in the group to build a friendly, almost
family-like workplace. Once he has built a warm environment, he now has to maintain it. One way
the manager can achieve this is by organizing team building activities within the group. We all
know that dysfunctional groups can be somewhat cured when put into tests. These tests should
build a bond among the employees, making them feel they are as important as everyone else in the
group. It should also be noted that these team building activities be done every once in a while,
just to make sure things dont fall apart. Moreover, employees need to build a pleasurable
personality so that heat among them would not build up. Therefore, making a non-toxic working
environment. In this way, no one will feel left out, and employees will be motivated to work
because they feel they are of equal importance in the workplace.

Once our call center agent feels like he belongs and he matters to the group, a higher need
dominates his persona. Here come his esteem needs. All people in our society have a need or desire
for a stable, firmly based, (usually) high evaluation of themselves, for self-respect, or self-esteem,
and for the esteem of others (Maslow, 1943). Since he feels that he belongs in the group, he now
needs to feel appreciated. The appreciation and recognition of his efforts motivate him to do more,
so that he can gain respect from his fellow workers and for himself. Management can respond to
this need by giving recognition to exemplary employee performance at certain periods, say for a
month or so. That is why business organizations have Employee of the Month Awards given to
individuals. Lets say again that our call center agent has passed over his quota for the week.
Managements (especially the Team Leader as they call it in the field) response is to recognize this
remarkable performance. The team leader may call out our agents name and congratulate him for
a job well done. He may also give gifts to our agent as a token of his notable performance.

Recognition of achievements of employees not only bring self-esteem to the remarkable

employee; it also challenges other employees to strive hard so that they, too, can be recognized.
Thus, gaining respect. One thing though, is that this will promote a sense of competition among
employees. But, it still motivates them to excel in what they do, and making themselves productive
as possible.

Even if all these needs are satisfied, we may still often (if not always) expect that a new
discontent and restlessness will soon develop, unless the individual is doing what he is fitted for.
A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately
happy. What a man can be, he must be. This need we may call self-actualization (Maslow, 1943).
People have their own purposes and dreams. What they dream, they strive to achieve. Take for an
example a child. He dreams to be an accountant. By the time he finishes his junior high school, he
shall go to the path where he can achieve his dream. He will enter Senior High School under the
Accountancy, Business and Management track. When he finishes his two years as a Senior High
Schooler, he will enroll in a school with an Accountancy program. When he graduates, he shall
review and take the Board exams. Once he passed, he then can be called a Certified Public
Accountant. And as a CPA, he will do what he needs to do. In this way, he gives his fullest
potential, and his creativeness is at its optimum. Given also the challenging environment of his
work, our accountant now has the desire to become more and more of himself, and he strives to
become everything he is capable of becoming.

In a business environment, all employees have their own roles. The management plans,
organizes, leads and controls employees. The marketing department finds potential business
targets for the products and/or services offered by the organization. The production team makes
the actual product/services of the company. The accounting department tracks the total financial
status and the results of the operations of the company. To respond to these different tasks, the
human resource department has to find the right people to do the right tasks. This is why when
there are job vacancies, businesses make it sure that they have shown the job specifications and
job qualifications for that particular job. In this way, there are no or less job mismatch in the
business environment.

Take again our call center agent as an example. Say, he is a graduate of the English
Program. Before he got hired, the job qualifications specifically need for people who are really
fluent in English. Since he is a graduate from the English program, he got hired. However, our call
center agent is also great in dancing and singing. Management can see that he can become a great
entertainer. To respond to his talent, management makes him perform during company events. He
gives an intermission number during Christmas parties, company programs, or simply during
breaks to calm down the pressure in the workplace. Other than that, management also recognizes
his passion and enriches his job. His knowledge in the field grows. He is sent to seminars to learn
more. He gains new experience provided by the company. By this way, our call center agent feels
happy that he can work and grow at the same time. He can be productive because he knows,
management recognizes every part of him and makes sure he becomes, bit by bit, what he truly is.

It is important that management, whether top, middle, or bottom, recognizes the needs of
its employees. If management does so, they can expect employees to give their optimal
performance every time they go to work. Also, employees can give their loyalty to the company.
In this way, both the employees and the employer are benefitted, a total win-win situation.

References:
Baridam, Don M. Management and Organization Theory. Sherbrooke Associates. 2002.

Griffin, Em. A First Look at Communication Theory. McGraw-Hill Company, The. 1994.

Maslow, Abraham H. A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychological Review, (50)4. 370. 1943.

McLeod, Saul A. Maslows Hierarchy of Needs. 2016. Retrieved from

www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html