hi there in this business topic video we're going to take a look at one of the most popular

theories of motivation at work it's the famous maslo hierarchy of needs now of course maslo
is just one of Three Classic Theories of Motivation several uh popular and important theorists
of motivation at work that it's likely you'll need to be familiar
with as as part of your studies including of course Old Frederick Taylor the science ific
management approach and Herzberg who took a very different view to Taylor as about how
to motivate people at work but for this we'll just look at maslo and the thing he's most famous
for the hierarchy of needs maslo like so many of the Abraham Maslow motivational theorist
was a psychologist and he was intrinsically
interested in what motivated people what were the factors that determined the level of
motivation and in a simal study published back in 1943 entitled a theory of human motivation
maslo stated that people have essentially five sets of needs which come in a particular order
and this approach to human needs has been very influential in uh determining how motivation
at work is viewed the essential argument in terms
Maslow's Theory of Motivation of the needs is that these levels are all those which
employees find they need to have fulfilled filled at work and you work up the hierarchy from
the bottom so it's only once the lowest level of need has been fully met before the next need
becomes important to an employee or worker and therefore in terms of motivation at work
what a business needs to do is to try to find ways of offering incentives to employees in order
for them to feel that each need is been met and therefore they have an incentive to progress
up the hierarchy of needs Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs - In General before we look at how
this maps to what
happens at work let's just quickly look at the five core levels in maso's hierarchy it starts right
down at the bottom with the psychological needs the needs of all of us for the basics for food
for warmth for shelter once those are met we then if you believe maslo we then look for
safety we look for that job security the knowledge that when we get up in the morning the job
will be there for us to do and when we get there we'll be working in an environment that's
safe that's predictable once we've achieved that level of assurance about that need we look for
a higher level need the social need not only do we go to work to feel safe and have our basic
needs met but
also we want to be part of something we want to feel that belonging to a team or to an
organization or a business and we also want to feel one wanted and appreciated that's a key
part of a social need once that need is met we can move further up the hierarchy still and try
to address the the needs of esteem esteem is all about self respect it's about status have we
reached a level at work where we feel as though our skills and abilities are recognized and uh
we have some status at work and once we've achieved the esteem need although Mazda
recognized that relatively few people eventually make it to the top of the hierarchy we look
for self-actualization this is going well beyond the need for being part of a team feeling
belonging and status this is about intellectual uh fulfillment of needs fulfilling our true
potential being stretched and challenged to achieve targets now let's just quickly map that
hierarchy of needs to some examples as The Hierarchy of Needs and Motivation at Work to
how you might map that in terms of motivational methods right down at uh at the top the
bottom of the hierarchy but at the top of this table clearly the the
physiological needs are all around the basics the basics of acceptable pay proper working
conditions and safety clearly that's all about health and safety job security when it comes to
meeting social needs there's clearly a role to be played from allowing or encouraging workers
to work together into teams perhaps to mix between the different disciplines to provide them
with the the facilities to uh to enjoy their time together at work and to socialize but it goes
beyond that it's also about making sure that everyone feels that they are being appraised and
mentored and appropriately trained as part of their social needs the whole esteem piece is
covered
by the classic elements of the organizational hierarchy in terms of job design job title who has
decision making within that job role where decision is make made within the hierarchy but it
goes beyond that as well in terms of the amount of trust that's placed in someone at work and
also whether their achievements are recognized and to what extent achievement is linked with
financial reward but finally the self-actualization the top of the hierarchy is all about enabling
people to stretch themselves and completely fulfill their potential within the organization it's
about encouraging them to to seek internal promotion opportunities to take on greater
responsibilities at work job enrichment a great example of that adding to extending the
challenges and the elements of the work often making it more complex so you can see the
whole bunch of different ways in which work can be motivating or employees sorry
employers can make work more motivating that link quite nicely to the hierarchy of needs
however maso's hierarchy has been Some Criticisms of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs around
a long time and it's not without its criticisms even though it remains hugely influential and of
course the key criticism to make about it is that of course as individuals we are all different
and therefore we don't all have the same needs now Masa would argue that therefore we'll
find ourselves at different places within the hierarchy when it comes to motivation at work
but it is true of course isn't it that our perception of what matters at work varies and it varies
not only between but also over time so people coming into work at the start of their careers
are looking for job security and then promotion opportunities but as you spend more time at
work different factors become more important and it's also important to say that the vast
majority of people rarely find themselves at the top of the organizational hierarchy so you
might argue that the self-actualization element is actually the hardest to achieve well muslo
has been around a The Sixth Level of the Hierarchy. long time and of course if you've been a
fan of social media you'll spotted that uh a a an even more basic need has been identified
which has been added to
the hierarchy of needs it's known as Wi-Fi or 3 4G actually I've also recently seen a maybe a
seventh level which is battery power on a smartphone maybe you agree or disagree with that
but it's proof that the maslo hierarchy of needs has been an incredibly popular and well model
of motivation at work so there we go brief introduction to one of the most famous theories of
motivation maso's hierarchy of
needs