In the realm of marketing research, understanding Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs means understanding consumer behaviour. However, I want to use Maslow’s Hierarchy to examine employee behaviour.
An introduction:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH04OsNuvcw&feature=fvwrel
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
I believe that an indicator of a company’s strength is how invested its employees are in its success. If employees work simply to receive a paycheque, with no motivation for self or company-development, they are struggling to scale tiers 1 and 2 of the triangle. In order to meet tier 3, employers must pay employees enough for them to feel secure in fulfilling basic human needs.
Social or Emotional needs represent the third tier. I interpret this tier to represent the working environment – are employers and fellow employees supportive? Do they reflect community or selfishness? An environment of encouragement is needed to move up to tiers 4 and 5.
A company that raises employees up to tiers 4 and 5 (Esteem and Self-Actualization) gives them opportunity to strive for recognition. Whether this means moving up the ranks or getting a pay raise, employees now have the foundation to seek involvement in their position – looking for ways to excel and improve. Now, further growth is up to the employee.
Notice that in the last tiers, we moved away from “needs” to choices that beget fulfillment. When being a company member generates fulfilment, the success of the individual translates into the success of the company.
My revamped Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Hey Yu-Wei
Reading your blog reminds me about reading John Maxwell’s 5 Levels of Leadership in which he talks about similar approaches to company success. If employees are not passionate about the task at hand and willing to get over certain struggles, a company will not succeed no matter how hard its employers work. I think in order for the organization to have a goal to reach the top of the pyramid, a strong foundation needs to be built first.
By the way, great re-creation of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. I love the explanations on the side.
This is a splendid post! I really liked it because you thought outside the box and instead of applying the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs for its usual marketing purposes you applied it to employees motivation. This is a great deal important because it wouldn’t matter how much products a company would be able to sell unless it was able to produce all those products and to do it in the most efficient way possible. For a company to maximize its profit it needs not only to increase the numbers of product sold but it also needs to decrease the cost of producing. This can be attained through employees because it is they, all together, that make up the company and it is their innovative ideas that will produce a more efficient confirm. To motivate employees to do beyond their job it is important to give them more then just the feeling of safety. In my opinion the company needs to make their environment feel more like a community where people can learn to work together and come up with better ideas then they would alone. As the company works up Maslow Hierarchy of needs they will see that their workers will become much more motivated to work and the results will be outstanding.