Abraham Maslow described how people are motivated in his hierarchy of needs theory. This theory describes five categories of needs: physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization. The important point about Maslow's theory is that the needs exist in a hierarchy. As Daft (1997, p. 531) explains "low-order needs take priority - they must be satisfied before higher-order needs are activated." This theory explains why a satisfied need ceases to motivate because once a need is satisfied, a new higher-order needs becomes the focus.

             To explain how this works, consider a person who has not achieved the basic physiological needs of food and water. This unsatisfied need becomes a source of motivation. However, once this need has been met, the individual is no longer motivated by a need for food and water. This occurs because the need is no longer unsatisfied. In response, the individual moves up the hierarchy and focuses on the next unsatisfied need, which is the safety need. This becomes the unsatisfied need that motivates the individual. The same process occurs when the individual achieves safety. Once again, this is no longer an unsatisfied need and so the individual moves up the hierarchy to the next need, which is belongingness. This occurs again as the person moves up the hierarchy to achieve esteem needs and self-actualization needs.

             This illustrates how individuals are motivated by unsatisfied needs. A satisfied need ceases to motivate because once a need has been met, the individual moves on and is motivated by the next need in the hierarchy. In this way, an individual is always motivated by an unsatisfied need, not a satisfied one.

             Discrimination Based on Sex.

             One solution to the problem of sexual discrimination is to implement systems and procedures that allow victims to make complaints and have action taken. This solution is based on the fact that sexual discrimination becomes an ongoing problem when people who are sexually harassed do not make complaints.