Maslow

A detailed Summary of Maslow

The success of any organization depends on the ability of managers and supervisors to provide a motivating environment for their employees. Motivation is fundamental to all organizations, and can be defined as the result of an employee's or subordinate's concentration towards a valued goal, through intensity, direction and persistence of effort. There are many theories of motivation that are applied in organizations worldwide on a regular basis. One of these is Maslow's Theory of Needs. It deals with individual motiviation and by understanding employee needs, managers can understand what rewards (either intrinsic or extrinsic) he or she should use to best motivate each individual.

Abraham Maslow developed a five-level hierarchical theory of motivation that argues an unsatisfied need has the greatest motivating potential. His hierarchy of needs, starting wtih the most basic and ending with the most complex, are as follows:

Physiological: Needs that must be satisfied in order for teh individual to survive, such as food, water, shelter, oxygen, sleep etc.

Safety: Needs that include security, stability or certainty, predictability, protection from physical harm, and ordered and structured environment, freeedom from anxiety, etc.

There are many more motivational theories that are found in the field of Organizational Behaviour. LInking two or more theories together can further the satisfaction of employees, and ultimately, increase the productivity of the organization. It is important for managers and supervisors to know what motivates their employees and subordinates and to design a program of motivation based on those needs. THe theories of motivation aid management in this goal.

As individuals, we are motivated by teh desire to achieve or maintain these basic needs. The goals are arranged in a hierarchy of prepotency (this refers to the idea that some needs are felt as being more pressing/important that others). A person is more motivated to satisfy their most basic needs - physiological needs - before they reveal an interest in safety needs. In turn, safety needs must be satisfied before belongingess needs become motivational, and so on and so forth. When a need is unsatisfied, it puts forth a very powerful influence on the individual's thinking and behaviour. For example, when a person is starving, they will find it very hard to think of anything else but food. THis person's safety needs will be disregarded until they feel that their physiological needs have been satiated.

Self-actualisation: a desire to become everything that one is capable of becoming or to develop one's true potential to the fullest extent possible, the desire to do a good job, etc. Self-actualisation needs are the hardest of the 5 basic needs to define and attain. It is less a need, than a final development stage for an individual.

American Express strives to fulfill employees belongingness needs by promoting opportunites for social interaction out of business hours during the course of the

Some common words found in the essay are:
American Express, Abraham Maslow, Satisfaction Committee, According Maslow, , Behaviour LInking, Post September, Maslow's Theory, american express, North America, social interaction, true potential fullest, potential fullest, levels employees, true potential, physiological met, recognition appreciation, potential fullest extent, example person, include feelings, american express strives, maslow's theory,

Approximate Word count = 1184
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: People