According to Maslow, only the unsatisfied needs are prime sources of motivation.

This means that only if your hunger even steal food to satisfy the primitive physiological need to survive. Likewise, only if you have an intense craving to succeed will you study and learn as much as you can order to fulfill this ambition. Maslow suggested that there are five needs systems that account for most of our behaviors. He placed these in a hierarchy ranging from the most primitive and immature in terms of the behavior they promote to the most civilized and mature. Maslow created a Hierarchy of needs which is normally drawn as a triangle. He believed it showed what people wanted from their job. He thought everyone starts at the bottom and works their way up to the top. Self actualisation === Esteem needs === ===== Social needs ===== ====== Safety needs ====== ======= Physical needs ======= Self actualisation - Fulfillment - learning new skills, challenges etc. Esteem needs - recognition of achievements. Social needs - Friendship, contact - communication.

Safety needs - Job security and safety. Physical needs - Ability to pay for food and shelter with pay. According to Maslow, there is a natural trend in which individuals become aware of and therefore are motivated by each of these needs in ascending order. The very lowest consisting of physiological needs, reflects the individuals concern for survival. Next we move up to the safety rung, reflecting concern for safety and the avoidance of harm. The third rung represents the belonging needs, the normal human desire to be accepted and appreciated by others. The fourth is the level of ego status needs, which motivates a person to contribute his or her best to the efforts of the group in return for the numerous forms of rewards that recognition can assume. The highest rung on the ladder stands for the self actualization needs, which are realized when the individual can experience a sense of personal growth and achievement, of satisfaction and self fulfillment through doing. Maslow didnt mean to imply that any need ever receives complete satisfaction. Rather, he believed that some minimal degree of satisfaction is required before a need ceases to preoccupy the individual to the exclusion of the higher needs. Once that point is reached, the person will be free to feel the tensions associated with the next level in the hierarchy and to experiment with a new set of behaviors designed to satisfy the new need. Problems in Maslows theory: Maslows theory makes good common sense but not their hierarchical arrangement and the postulation that the lower order needs must be satisfied before the individuals goes to the next level of the needs. The fact that many poets, artisans, painters all over the world have sought self actualization without ever satisfying their lower level of needs, defies his theory. Maslow himself later recognized that there are exceptions to his hierarchical pyramid of need fulfillment. Another problem with Maslows theory is in operationalizing some of his concepts. For example, how does one measure self actualization if one is to test and do research on this. Thus, the two shortcomings in Maslows theory are that:
1. He subscribes to people going step by step in the five hierarchies of needs, first

satisfying the physiological needs. 2. There is difficulty in measuring some concepts.

Implications of Maslows Theory for managers: Despite the drawbacks, his theory offers some practical and useful ideas for managers. There is no gainsaying that fact that the vast majority of employees joining organizations at the lower levels such as clerks, machinists, peons, drivers and the like, are by and large, concerned about their pay and other fringe benefits (physiological needs), and also to make sure that their work environment is not hazardous, and that they are confirmed in their jobs as early as possible (safety and security). They also interest themselves in establishing friendship at work and belonging to a good work (social needs). As they settle down in their jobs, they want to be recognized for their good work by others in the system (self esteem). Not all employees may find the need to self actualizes at the workplace, but some could. Maslow has thus offered us a conceptual framework for understanding the various levels of needs of employees, which would help managers to motivate them by satisfying diverse needs through appropriate rewards.