Abraham Harold Maslow was born April 1, 1908 in Brooklyn, New York.

  He was the first of

seven children born to his parents, who themselves were uneducated Jewish immigrants from
Russia.  His parents, hoping for the best for their children in the new world, pushed him hard for
academic success.  Not surprisingly, he became very lonely as a boy, and found his refuge in
books.
He received his BA in 1930, his MA in 1931, and his PhD in 1934, all in psychology, all
from the University of Wisconsin.  A year after graduation, he returned to New York to work
with E. L. Thorndike at Columbia, where Maslow became interested in research on human
sexuality. One of the many interesting things Maslow noticed while he worked with monkeys
early in his career, was that some needs take precedence over others.  For example, if you are
hungry and thirsty, you will tend to try to take care of the thirst first.  After all, you can do
without food for weeks, but you can only do without water for a couple of days!  Thirst is a
“stronger” need than hunger.  Likewise, if you are very very thirsty, but someone has put a choke
hold on you and you can’t breath, which is more important?  The need to breathe, of course.  On
the other hand, sex is less powerful than any of these.  Let’s face it, you won’t die if you don’t
get it! In early 1960’s he gave the theory of needs.

Introduction
Psychologist Abraham Maslow first introduced his concept of a hierarchy of needs in his 1943
paper "A Theory of Human Motivation"1 and his subsequent book, Motivation and Personality.2
This hierarchy suggests that people are motivated to fulfill basic needs before moving on to other
needs.Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is most often displayed as a pyramid. The lowest levels of
the pyramid are made up of the most basic needs, while the more complex needs are located at
the top of the pyramid. Needs at the bottom of the pyramid are basic physical requirements
including the need for food, water, sleep and warmth. Once these lower-level needs have been
met, people can move on to the next level of needs, which are for safety and security.As people
progress up the pyramid, needs become increasingly psychological and social. Soon, the need for
love, friendship and intimacy become important. Further up the pyramid, the need for personal
esteem and feelings of accomplishment take priority. Like Carl Rogers, Maslow emphasized the
importance of self-actualization, which is a process of growing and developing as a person to
achieve individual potential.

Types of Needs
Maslow believed that these needs are similar to instincts and play a major role in motivating
behavior. Physiological, security, social, and esteem needs are deficiency needs (also known as
D-needs), meaning that these needs arise due to deprivation. Satisfying these lower-level needs is
important in order to avoid unpleasant feelings or consequences.Maslow termed the highest-level
of the pyramid as growth needs (also known as being needs or B-needs). Growth needs do not
stem from a lack of something, but rather from a desire to grow as a person.

1. Self-actualization
“What a man can be, he must be.”[7] This forms the basis of the perceived need for self-
actualization. This level of need pertains to what a person's full potential is and realizing that
potential. Maslow describes this desire as the desire to become more and more what one is, to
become everything that one is capable of becoming.[8] This is a broad definition of the need for
self-actualization, but when applied to individuals the need is specific. For example one
individual may have the strong desire to become an ideal parent, in another it may be expressed
athletically, and in another it may be expressed in painting, pictures, or inventions.[9] As
mentioned before, in order to reach a clear understanding of this level of need one must first not
only achieve the previous needs, physiological, safety, love, and esteem, but master these needs.
Below are Maslow’s descriptions of a self-actualized person’s different needs and personality
traits.Maslow also states that even though these are examples of how the quest for knowledge is
separate from basic needs he warns that these “two hierarchies are interrelated rather than
sharply separated” (Maslow 97). This means that this level of need, as well as the next and
highest level, are not strict, separate levels but closely related to others, and this is possibly the
reason that these two levels of need are left out of most textbooks.

2. Esteem
All humans have a need to be respected and to have self-esteem and self-respect. Also known as
the belonging need, esteem presents the normal human desire to be accepted and valued by
others. People need to engage themselves to gain recognition and have an activity or activities
that give the person a sense of contribution, to feel accepted and self-valued, be it in a profession
or hobby. Imbalances at this level can result in low self-esteem or an inferiority complex. People
with low self-esteem need respect from others. They may seek fame or glory, which again
depends on others. Note, however, that many people with low self-esteem will not be able to
improve their view of themselves simply by receiving fame, respect, and glory externally, but
must first accept themselves internally. Psychological imbalances such as depression can also
prevent one from obtaining self-esteem on both levels.Most people have a need for a stable self-
respect and self-esteem. Maslow noted two versions of esteem needs, a lower one and a higher
one. The lower one is the need for the respect of others, the need for status, recognition, fame,
prestige, and attention. The higher one is the need for self-respect, the need for strength,
competence, mastery, self-confidence, independence and freedom. The latter one ranks higher
because it rests more on inner competence won through experience. Deprivation of these needs
can lead to an inferiority complex, weakness and helplessness.

3. Love and belonging

After physiological and safety needs are fulfilled, the third layer of human needs are social and
involve feelings of belongingness. This aspect of Maslow's hierarchy involves emotionally based
relationships in general, such as:
 Friendship
 Intimacy
 Family
Humans need to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance, whether it comes from a large social
group, such as clubs, office culture, religious groups, professional organizations, sports teams,
gangs, or small social connections (family members, intimate partners, mentors,
close,colleagues, confidants). They need to love and be loved (sexually and non-sexually) by
others. In the absence of these elements, many people become susceptible to loneliness, social
anxiety, and clinical depression. This need for belonging can often overcome the physiological
and security needs, depending on the strength of the peer pressure; an anorexic, for example,
may ignore the need to eat and the security of health for a feeling of control and belonging.[citation
needed]

4. Safety needs
With their physical needs relatively satisfied, the individual's safety needs take precedence and
dominate behavior. These needs have to do with people's yearning for a predictable orderly
world in which perceived unfairness and inconsistency are under control, the familiar frequent
and the unfamiliar rare. In the world of work, these safety needs manifest themselves in such
things as a preference for job security, grievance procedures for protecting the individual from
unilateral authority, savings accounts, insurance policies, reasonable disability accommodations,
and the like.Safety and Security needs include:
 Personal security
 Financial security
 Health and well-being
 Safety net against accidents/illness and their adverse impacts

5. Physiological needs
For the most part, physiological needs are obvious—they are the literal requirements for human
survival. If these requirements are not met (with the exception of clothing, shelter, and sexual
activity), the human body simply cannot continue to function.
Physiological needs include:
 Breathing
 Food
 Homeostasis
 Sex
Air, water, and food are metabolic requirements for survival in all animals, including humans.
Clothing and shelter provide necessary protection from the elements. The intensity of the human
sexual instinct is shaped more by sexual competition than maintaining a birth rate adequate to
survival of the species.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs motivational model
Abraham Maslow developed the Hierarchy of Needs model in 1940-50s USA, and the Hierarchy
of Needs theory remains valid today for understanding human motivation, management training,
and personal development. Indeed, Maslow's ideas surrounding the Hierarchy of Needs
concerning the responsibility of employers to provide a workplace environment that encourages
and enables employees to fulfil their own unique potential (self-actualization) are today more
relevant than ever. Abraham Maslow's book Motivation and Personality, published in 1954
(second edition 1970) introduced the Hierarchy of Needs, and Maslow extended his ideas in
other work, notably his later book Toward A Psychology Of Being, a significant and relevant
commentary, which has been revised in recent times by Richard Lowry, who is in his own right a
leading academic in the field of motivational psychology. Abraham Maslow was born in New
York in 1908 and died in 1970, although various publications appear in Maslow's name in later
years. Maslow's PhD in psychology in 1934 at the University of Wisconsin formed the basis of
his motivational research, initially studying rhesus monkeys. Maslow later moved to New York's
Brooklyn College.
The Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs five-stage model below (structure and
terminology - not the precise pyramid diagram itself) is clearly and directly attributable to
Maslow; later versions of the theory with added motivational stages are not so clearlyattributable
to Maslow. These extended models have instead been inferred by others from Maslow's work.
Specifically Maslow refers to the needs Cognitive, Aesthetic and Transcendence (subsequently
shown as distinct needs levels in some interpretations of his theory) as additional aspects of
motivation, but not as distinct levels in the Hierarchy of Needs. Where Maslow's Hierarchy of
Needs is shown with more than five levels these models have been extended through
interpretation of Maslow's work by other people. These augmented models and diagrams are
shown as the adapted seven and eight-stage Hierarchy of Needs pyramid diagrams and models
below.
There have been very many interpretations of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in the
form of pyramid diagrams. The diagrams on this page are my own interpretations and are not
offered as Maslow's original work. Interestingly in Maslow's book Motivation and Personality,
which first introduced the Hierarchy of Needs, there is not a pyramid to be seen. Free Hierarchy
of Needs diagrams in pdf and doc formats similar to the image below are available from this
page.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Each of us is motivated by needs. Our most basic needs are inborn, having evolved over tens of
thousands of years. Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs helps to explain how these needs
motivate us all.Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs states that we must satisfy each need in turn,
starting with the first, which deals with the most obvious needs for survival itself.
Only when the lower order needs of physical and emotional well-being are satisfied are we
concerned with the higher order needs of influence and personal development.
Conversely, if the things that satisfy our lower order needs are swept away, we are no longer
concerned about the maintenance of our higher order needs.
Maslow's original Hierarchy of Needs model was developed between 1943-1954, and first
widely published in Motivation and Personality in 1954. At this time the Hierarchy of Needs
model comprised five needs. This original version remains for most people the definitive
Hierarchy of Needs.
1970s adapted hierarchy of needs model,
including cognitive and aesthetic needs

1. Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.
2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.
3. Belongingness and Love needs - work group, family, affection, relationships, etc.
4. Esteem needs - self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige,
managerial responsibility, etc.
5. Cognitive needs - knowledge, meaning, etc.
6. Aesthetic needs - appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.
7. Self-Actualization needs - realising personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal
growth and peak experiences.

1990s adapted hierarchy of needs including

transcendence needs
1. Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.
2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.
3. Belongingness and Love needs - work group, family, affection, relationships, etc.
4. Esteem needs - self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige,
managerial responsibility, etc.
5. Cognitive needs - knowledge, meaning, etc.
6. Aesthetic needs - appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.
7. Self-Actualization needs - realising personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal
growth and peak experiences.
8. Transcendence needs - helping others to achieve self actualization.

What hierarchy of needs model is most valid?

Abraham Maslow created the original five level Hierarchy of Needs model, and for many this
remains entirely adequate for its purpose. The seven and eight level 'hierarchy of needs' models
are later adaptations by others, based on Maslow's work. Arguably, the original five-level model
includes the later additional sixth, seventh and eighth ('Cognitive', 'Aesthetic', and
'Transcendence') levels within the original 'Self-Actualization' level 5, since each one of the 'new'
motivators concerns an area of self-development and self-fulfilment that is rooted in self-
actualization 'growth', and is distinctly different to any of the previous 1-4 level 'deficiency'
motivators. For many people, self-actualizing commonly involves each and every one of the
newly added drivers. As such, the original five-level Hierarchy of Needs model remains a
definitive classical representation of human motivation; and the later adaptations perhaps serve
best to illustrate aspects of self-actualization.
 
Maslow said that needs must be satisfied in the given order. Aims and drive always shift to next
higher order needs. Levels 1 to 4 are deficiency motivators; level 5, and by implication 6 to 8,
are growth motivators and relatively rarely found. The thwarting of needs is usually a cause of
stress, and is particularly so at level 4.
Examples in use:
You can't motivate someone to achieve their sales target (level 4) when they're having problems
with their marriage (level 3).
You can't expect someone to work as a team member (level 3) when they're having their house
re-possessed (level 2).
 

Maslow's self-actualizing characteristics

 keen sense of reality - aware of real situations - objective judgement, rather than
subjective
 see problems in terms of challenges and situations requiring solutions, rather than see
problems as personal complaints or excuses
 need for privacy and comfortable being alone
 reliant on own experiences and judgement - independent - not reliant on culture and
environment to form opinions and views
 not susceptible to social pressures - non-conformist
 democratic, fair and non-discriminating - embracing and enjoying all cultures, races and
individual styles
 socially compassionate - possessing humanity
 accepting others as they are and not trying to change people
 comfortable with oneself - despite any unconventional tendencies
 a few close intimate friends rather than many surface relationships
 sense of humour directed at oneself or the human condition, rather than at the expense of
others
 spontaneous and natural - true to oneself, rather than being how others want
 excited and interested in everything, even ordinary things
 creative, inventive and original
 seek peak experiences that leave a lasting impression

Maslow's hierarchy of needs in advertising

To help with training of Maslow's theory look for Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs motivators in
advertising. This is a great basis for Maslow and motivation training exercises:
 1. Biological and Physiological needs - wife/child-abuse help-lines, social security
benefits, Samaritans, roadside recovery.
2. Safety needs - home security products (alarms, etc), house an contents insurance, life
assurance, schools.
3. Belongingness and Love needs - dating and match-making services, chat-lines, clubs
and membership societies, Macdonalds, 'family' themes like the old style Oxo stock cube
ads.
4. Esteem needs - cosmetics, fast cars, home improvements, furniture, fashion clothes,
drinks, lifestyle products and services.
5. Self-Actualization needs - Open University, and that's about it; little else in mainstream
media because only 2% of population are self-actualizers, so they don't constitute a very
big part of the mainstream market.
 Adapted seven-level Hierarchy of Needs diagram (which seems to have first appeared in
the 1970s - after Maslow's death).
 Adapted eight-level Hierarchy of Needs diagram (appearing later, seemingly 1990s).
 

Interpreting behaviour according to

maslow's hierarchy of needs
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is an excellent model for understanding human motivation, but it is
a broad concept. If you are puzzled as to how to relate given behaviour to the Hierarchy it could
be that your definition of the behaviour needs refining. For example, 'where does 'doing things
for fun' fit into the model? The answer is that it can't until you define 'doing things for fun' more
accurately.
You'd need to define more precisely each given situation where a person is 'doing things for fun'
in order to analyse motivation according to Maslow's Hierarchy, since the 'fun' activity motive
can potentially be part any of the five original Maslow needs.
Understanding whether striving to achieve a particular need or aim is 'fun' can provide a helpful
basis for identifying a Maslow driver within a given behaviour, and thereby to assess where a
particular behaviour fits into the model:
 Biological - health, fitness, energising mind and body, etc.
 Safety - order and structure needs met for example by some heavily organised, structural
activity
 Belongingness - team sport, club 'family' and relationships
 Esteem - competition, achievement, recognition
 Self-Actualization drivers - challenge, new experiences, love of art, nature, etc.
However in order to relate a particular 'doing it for fun' behaviour the Hierarchy of Needs we
need to consider what makes it 'fun' (i.e., rewarding) for the person. If a behaviour is 'for fun',
then consider what makes it 'fun' for the person - is the 'fun' rooted in 'belongingness', or is it
from 'recognition', i.e., 'esteem'. Or is the fun at a deeper level, from the sense of self-fulfilment,
i.e., 'self-actualization'.
Apply this approach to any behaviour that doesn't immediately fit the model, and it will help you
to see where it does fit.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs will be a blunt instrument if used as such. The way you use the
Hierarchy of Needs determines the subtlety and sophistication of the model.
For example: the common broad-brush interpretation of Maslow's famous theory suggests that
that once a need is satisfied the person moves onto the next, and to an extent this is entirely
correct. However an overly rigid application of this interpretation will produce a rigid analysis,
and people and motivation are more complex. So while it is broadly true that people move up (or
down) the hierarchy, depending what's happening to them in their lives, it is also true that most
people's motivational 'set' at any time comprises elements of all of the motivational drivers. For
example, self-actualizers (level 5 - original model) are mainly focused on self-actualizing but
are still motivated to eat (level 1) and socialise (level 3). Similarly, homeless folk whose main
focus is feeding themselves (level 1) and finding shelter for the night (level 2) can also be,
albeit to a lesser extent, still concerned with social relationships (level 3), how their friends
perceive them (level 4), and even the meaning of life (level 5 - original model).
Like any simple model, Maslow's theory not a fully responsive system - it's a guide which
requires some interpretation and thought, given which, it remains extremely useful and
applicable for understanding, explaining and handling many human behaviour situations.
 

Maslow's hierarchy of needs and helping

others
There are certainly some behaviours that are quite tricky to relate to Maslow's Hierarchy of
Needs.For example: Normally, we would consider that selflessly helping others, as a form of
personal growth motivation, would be found as part of self-actualisation, or perhaps even
'transcendence' (if you subscribe to the extended hierarchy).So how can we explain the examples
of people who seem to be far short of self-actualising, and yet are still able to help others in a
meaningful and unselfish sense?Interestingly this concept seems to be used increasingly as an
effective way to help people deal with depression, low self-esteem, poor life circumstances, etc.,
and it almost turns the essential Maslow model on its head: that is, by helping others, a person
helps themselves to improve and develop too. The principle has also been applied quite recently
to developing disaffected school-children, whom, as part of their own development, have been
encouraged and enabled to 'teach' other younger children (which can arguably be interpreted as
their acting at a self-actualising level - selflessly helping others). The disaffected children,
theoretically striving to belong and be accepted (level 3 - belongingness) were actually
remarkably good at helping other children, despite their own negative feelings and issues.Under
certain circumstances, a person striving to satisfy their needs at level 3 - belongingness, seems
able to self-actualise - level 5 (and perhaps beyond, into 'transcendence') by selflessly helping
others, and at the same time begins to satisfy their own needs for belongingness and self-
esteem.Such examples demonstrate the need for careful interpretation and application of the
Maslow model. The Hierarchy of Needs is not a catch-all, but it does remain a wonderfully
useful framework for analysing and trying to understand the subtleties - as well as the broader
aspects - of human behaviour and growth.
 

Self-actualisation, employees and

organisations
Maslow's work and ideas extend far beyond the Hierarchy of Needs.
Maslow's concept of self-actualisation relates directly to the present day challenges and
opportunities for employers and organisations - to provide real meaning, purpose and true
personal development for their employees. For life - not just for work.
Maslow saw these issues fifty years ago: the fact that employees have a basic human need and a
right to strive for self-actualisation, just as much as the corporate directors and owners
do.Increasingly, the successful organisations and employers will be those who genuinely care
about, understand, encourage and enable their people's personal growth towards self-
actualisation - way beyond traditional work-related training and development, and of course way
beyond old-style X-Theory management autocracy, which still forms the basis of much
organised employment today.The best modern employers and organisations are beginning to
learn at last: that sustainable success is built on a serious and compassionate commitment to
helping people identify, pursue and reach their own personal unique potential.When people grow
as people, they automatically become more effective and valuable as employees. In fact virtually
all personal growth, whether in a hobby, a special talent or interest, or a new experience,
produces new skills, attributes, behaviours and wisdom that is directly transferable to any sort of
job role. The best modern employers recognise this and as such offer development support to
their staff in any direction whatsoever that the person seeks to grow and become more fulfilled.
 

Maslow's modern relevance

When you read Maslow's work, and particularly when you hear him speak about it, the relevance
of his thinking to our modern world of work and management is astounding.
His explanations and interpretations of the human condition remain fundamentally helpful in
understanding and addressing all sorts of social and behavioural questions - forty or fifty years
after his death.You will particularly see great significance of his ideas in relation to modern
challenges for work such as in the Psychological Contract and leadership ethics, and even
extending to globalization and society.
Maslow is obviously most famous for his Hierarchy of Needs theory, rightly so, because it is a
wonderfully simple and elegant model for understanding so many aspects of human motivation,
especially in the workplace. The simplicity of the model however tends to limit appreciation of
Maslow's vision and humanity, which still today are remarkably penetrating and sensitive.
 
Criticism
In their extensive review of research based on Maslow's theory, Wahba and Bridgewell found
little evidence for the ranking of needs Maslow described, or even for the existence of a
definite hierarchy at all.[10] Chilean economist and philosopher Manfred Max-Neef has also
argued fundamental human needs are non-hierarchical, and are ontologically universal and
invariant in nature—part of the condition of being human; poverty, he argues, may result from
any one of these needs being frustrated, denied or unfulfilled.
The order in which the hierarchy is arranged (with self-actualization as the highest order need)
has been criticised as being ethnocentric by Geert Hofstede. Hofstede's criticism of Maslow's
pyramid as ethnocentric may stem from the fact that Maslow’s hierarchy of needs neglects to
illustrate and expand upon the difference between the social and intellectual needs of those
raised in individualistic societies and those raised in collectivist societies. Maslow created his
hierarchy of needs from an individualistic perspective, being that he was from the United
States, a highly individualistic nation. The needs and drives of those in individualistic societies
tend to be more self centered than those in collectivist societies, focusing on improvement of
the self, with self actualization being the apex of self improvement. Since the hierarchy was
written from the perspective of an individualist, the order of needs in the hierarchy with self
actualization at the top is not representative of the needs of those in collectivist cultures. In
collectivist societies, the needs of acceptance and community will outweigh the needs for
freedom and individuality. Maslow’s hierarchy has also been criticized as being individualistic
because of the position and value of sex on the pyramid. Maslow’s pyramid puts sex on the
bottom rung of physiological needs, along with breathing and food. It views sex from an
individualistic and not collectivist perspective: i.e., as an individualistic physiological need that
must be satisfied before one moves on to higher pursuits. This view of sex neglects the
emotional, familial and evolutionary implications of sex within the community. Psychologist
Douglas Kenrick of Arizona State University has several problems with Maslow's pyramid. One
of them is that needs, once they are met, do not simply disappear. Rather, certain
environmental cues can make them come back. Thus, Kenrick et al. created a new pyramid in
which the needs overlap one another and coexist, instead of completely replacing each other.
The bottom four levels of this pyramid are highly compatible with Maslow’s, but their top three
are mate acquisition, mate retention and parenting. Made in this way, human needs are
considered from the perspective of evolutionary psychology

Maslow gave a hierarchal structure ofN eeds in a pyramid form. It was a structure from
bottom to top with physiological needs at the bottom and self-actualization at the top.
According to Maslow every human comes under this hierarchal structure and
advocated it will for the purpose of the motivation.
But as the time are changing, the environment is also constantly changing, the demographic
structure, the sociocultural environment is changing at a rapid pace. So the question arises that
does the Maslow’s hierarchical structure covers these changes also? The structure has to be
evolved according to the changing circumstances. There is various lacunae in the Maslow’s
hierarchal structure.
Basis of Critical Analysis
Maslow did identify the needs correctly but the hierarchal structure does not follow in many
circumstances. The Maslow’s hierarchal structure does not also define the self-actualization
correctly , the definition given by the Maslow was vague and if we deemed it to be true then
the whole hierarchal structure fails. Maslow’s hierarchal structure did not follow on many
instances and with the changing time it is coming more fore and visible. Some of the instances
are given below. After critically evaluating the situations, there is a need to re-define the
Maslow’s structure.
(1) The army persons, if we critically evaluate them we can see the Maslow’s hierarchal does
not follow on this situation. According to Maslow the Psychological needs like hunger, thirst
comes first then the self-esteem and the social acceptance comes, but in the case of the Army
personnel’s who are fighting at the border remain thirsty, hungry for many days but they are
still willing to die anytime for the country because of they life for there country.
(2) Maslow’s self-actualization said that person who likes to do something and it comes after all
other needs. But Artists like musicians, painter who are doing what they like and also the sport
persons who may not be known by anyone but till they do what they look and are in the
process of self-actualization. Self- Actualization is a process that goes on for life long so the
structure has to be open.
(3) There is a set of people like immigrants or refugees who are also seen to not follow the
hierarchal structure. So refugees, now form a huge chunk of population, if the Maslow’s
structure does not follows then it is a huge lacunae in the structure and it needs to be
reviewed. Refugee situation is a very complex situation because the refugees may have
achieved the stage of the self- actualization and because of certain reasons they have to live in
camps where there is a dearth of food and also devoid of recent example is Sri-Lankan Tamils
who are in refugee campls after being caught in the cross-fire of the war between Sri-Lankan
Army amd LTTE.
(4) Maslow’s Structure does not take into account the cultural differences between
the countries that exist. There are different cultures with different norms and according to
which the structure changes. Culture is a vast thing and under culture comes everything that a
human does. Different culture gives rise to different needs and this will make hierarchal
structure change. In India the culture is of nuclear families here marriage is considered as an
institution, and feel insecure about there life, but they still they remain with each other
because of the social acceptance. This is just opposite of the western culture.
(5) The saints, sadhu’s can also be said to not the follow the Maslow’s hierarchal structure. May
they come to the stage of the self-actualization befoe even reaching the stage of the self-
esteem. Swami Vivekanda a great saint philospher is the most prominent example of the self-
actulization.
CONCLUSION
By this I want to conclude that there may be different situations will lead to
different needs and it is according to the individual he will go for the satisfaction for the
particular needs.Also it is seen that now more and more people come under the modern model,
because the flexibility has become the order of the day.

Herzberg's theory of motivation and

Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Among various behavioral theories long generally believed and embraced by American business
are those of Frederick Herzberg and Abraham Maslow. Herzberg, a psychologist, proposed a
theory about job factors that motivate employees. Maslow, a behavioral scientist and
contemporary of Herzberg's, developed a theory about the rank and satisfaction of various human
needs and how people pursue these needs. These theories are widely cited in the business
literature.

In the education profession, however, researchers in the '80s raised questions about the
applicability of Maslow's and Herzberg's theories to elementary and secondary school teachers:
Do educators, in fact, fit the profiles of the average business employee? That is, do teachers (1)
respond to the same motivators that Herzberg associated with employees in profit-making
businesses and (2) have the same needs patterns as those uncovered by Maslow in his studies of
business employees?

This digest first provides brief outlines of the Herzberg and Maslow theories. It then summarizes
a study by members of the Tennessee Career Ladder Program (TCLP). This study found
evidence that the teachers in the program do not match the behavior of people employed in
business. Specifically, the findings disagree with Herzberg in relation the importance of money
as a motivator and, with Maslow in regard to the position of esteem in a person's hierarchy of
needs.

Herzberg's theory of motivators and hygiene

factors
Herzberg (1959) constructed a two-dimensional paradigm of factors affecting people's attitudes
about work. He concluded that such factors as company policy, supervision, interpersonal
relations, working conditions, and salary are hygiene factors rather than motivators. According
to the theory, the absence of hygiene factors can create job dissatisfaction, but their presence
does not motivate or create satisfaction.

In contrast, he determined from the data that the motivators were elements that enriched a
person's job; he found five factors in particular that were strong determiners of job satisfaction:
achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, and advancement. These motivators
(satisfiers) were associated with long-term positive effects in job performance while the hygiene
factors (dissatisfiers) consistently produced only short-term changes in job attitudes and
performance, which quickly fell back to its previous level.

In summary, satisfiers describe a person's relationship with what she or he does, many related to
the tasks being performed. Dissatisfiers, on the other hand, have to do with a person's
relationship to the context or environment in which she or he performs the job. The satisfiers
relate to what a person does while the dissatisfiers relate to the situation in which the person
does what he or she does.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

In 1954, Maslow first published Motivation and Personality, which introduced his theory about
how people satisfy various personal needs in the context of their work. He postulated, based on
his observations as a humanistic psychologist, that there is a general pattern of needs recognition
and satisfaction that people follow in generally the same sequence. He also theorized that a
person could not recognize or pursue the next higher need in the hierarchy until her or his
currently recognized need was substantially or completely satisfied, a concept called prepotency.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs is shown in Table 1. It is often illustrated as a pyramid with the
survival need at the broad-based bottom and the self-actualization need at the narrow top.

Table 1
Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Level Type of Need Examples
1 Physiological Thirst, sex, hunger
2 Safety Security, stability, protection
3 Love and To escape loneliness, love and
Belongingness be loved, and gain a sense of
belonging
4 Esteem Self-respect, the respect others
5 Self- To fulfill one's potentialities
actualization
According to various literature on motivation, individuals often have problems consistently
articulating what they want from a job. Therefore, employers have ignored what individuals say
that they want, instead telling employees what they want, based on what managers believe most
people want under the circumstances. Frequently, these decisions have been based on Maslow's
needs hierarchy, including the factor of prepotency. As a person advances through an
organization, his employer supplies or provides opportunities to satisfy needs higher on
Maslow's pyramid.

TCLP study in relation to Herzberg's theory

According to Bellott and Tutor (1990), the problems with Herzberg's work are that it occurred in
1959--too long ago to be pertinent--and did not cover teachers. They cite earlier research by
Tutor (1986) with Tennessee Career Ladder Program as a means of overcoming both those
problems. TCLP has three levels, the largest and beginning one of which (Level I) has 30,000
members. Bellott and Tutor believe that the data from the study clearly indicate that the Level I
participants were as influenced by motivation factors as by hygiene factors (Table 2), contrary to
Herzberg's position that hygiene factors do not motivate.

Table 2
Distribution of motivation and hygiene tendencies 
among teachers at the various 
Career Ladder levels (from Bellott and Tutor)
Tendency Level Level II Level III Total
I
Motivation 71 101 149 321
Hygiene 70 11 24 105
Total 141 112 173 426

The survey asked classroom teachers, "To what extent did salary influence your decision to
participate in the (TCLP) program?" Teachers responded using a scale of from 1 (little influence
on deciding to participate in the program) to 7 (large influence). The results for the four highest-
average items, shown in Table 3, indicate that at all three levels teachers viewed salary as a
strong motivating factor, easily the most important of 11 of Herzberg's hygiene factors on the
survey.
Table 3
The importance of various of Herzberg's 
hygiene factors in teachers' decisions to participate 
in TCLP (from Bellott and Tutor)
 Factor Level Level Level
I II III
Personal life 3.658 4.794 4.984
Possibility for growth 4.013 5.528 5.394
Salary 5.980 6.500 6.468
Status 2.960 4.373 4.261
Items ranked lower than those shown were
Interpersonal relations with peers, with students,
and with superiors; job security; school policy and
administration; supervisor; and working conditions.

On Herzberg's five motivation factors, achievement ranked as the most important one. However,
the overall conclusion drawn from the research is that salary was the single most important
influence on the teachers' decisions to participate in TCLP, regardless of level in the
organization. Further, actual salary increases ranged from $1000 to 7000 per year. The teachers
perceived the amount of salary increase to be tied to achievement and the other motivation
factors.

The study and Maslow's theory

According to data from the TCLP survey, the teachers at all three experience levels are less
satisfied with their personal achievement of esteem (a middle level need according to Maslow)
than with their achievement of self-actualization. These results are summarized in Table 4.
Therefore, it can be concluded that self-actualization is a prepotent need for esteem. Two reasons
seem to account for this. First, self-actualization provides the basis for self-esteem. Second, this
self-actualized performance is also the basis for reputation, the esteem of others.

Table 4
Arithmetic means of perceived need 
deficiency areas by Career Ladder levels 
(from Bellott and Tutor)

Teacher Level in TCLP

Need Deficiency I II III

Security 1.4266 1.0563 0.7906
Social 1.0312 1.1537 0.8747
 Esteem 2.1173 2.3278 1.9016
Autonomy 1.8640 2.1188 1.5052
Self-actualization 1.8265 2.2883 1.3792

The Theory of X & Y:McGregor’s Theory

Theory X and Theory Y are theories of human motivation created and developed by Douglas
McGregor. The theory describes two very different attitudes toward workforce motivation.
McGregor felt that companies followed either one or the other approach.He also thought that the
key to connecting self-actualization with work is determined by the managerial trust of
subordinates.

Theory X
In this theory, which has been proven counter-effective in most modern practice, management
assumes employees are inherently lazy and will avoid work if they can and that they inherently
dislike work. According to this theory, employees will show little ambition without an enticing
incentive program and will avoid responsibility whenever they can, under Theory X the firm
relies on money and benefits to satisfy employees' lower needs, and once those needs are
satisfied the source of motivation is lost. Theory X management styles in fact hinder the
satisfaction of higher-level needs. Consequently, the only way that employees can attempt to
satisfy their higher level needs in their work is by seeking more compensation, so it is quite
predictable that they will focus on monetary rewards. Theory X thus have a hard approach
towards the employee’s however, McGregor assert that neither approach is appropriate because
the assumptions of Theory X are not correct.

In conclusion Theory X assumes that the average person:

• Dislikes work and attempts to avoid it.

• Has no ambition, wants no responsibility, and would rather follow than lead.

• Is self-centred and therefore does not care about organizational goals.

• Resists change.workers are lazy and they do not want to work

Theory Y
In this theory, management assumes employees may be ambitious and self-motivated and
exercise self-control. It is believed that employees enjoy their mental and physical work duties.
They possess the ability for creative problem solving, but their talents are underused in most
organizations. Theory Y managers believe that employees will learn to seek out and accept
responsibility and to exercise self-control and self-direction in accomplishing objectives to which
they are committed. They also believe that the satisfaction of doing a good job is a strong
motivation. McGregor simply argues for managers to be open to a more positive view of workers
and thus the possibilities that can be created. He thinks that Theory Y managers are more likely
than Theory X managers to develop the climate of trust with employees that are required for
human resource development. This would include managers communicating openly with
subordinates, minimizing the difference between superior-subordinate relationships, creating a
comfortable environment in which subordinates can develop and use their abilities. This climate
would include the sharing of decision making, so that subordinates comes out with decisions that
influence them. This theory is a positive view to the employees, meaning that the employer is
under a lot less pressure than someone who is influenced by a theory X management style

Theory Y makes the following general assumptions:

• Work can be as natural as play and rest.

• People will be self-directed to meet their work objectives if they are committed to them.

• People will be committed to their objectives if rewards are in place that addresses higher needs
such as self-fulfillment.

• Under these conditions, people will seek responsibility.

• Most people can handle responsibility because creativity and ingenuity are common in the
population.

Theory X and Theory Y combined

For McGregor, Theory X and Y are not different ends of the same continuum. Rather they are
two different continua in themselves. Thus, if a manager needs to apply Theory Y principles, that
does not preclude them from being a part of Theory X & Y.

McGregor details the Theory X and Theory Y in his published book The Human Side of
Enterprise, 1960
Conclusion
Although Herzberg's paradigm of hygiene and motivating factors and Maslow's hierarchy of
needs may still have broad applicability in the business world, at least one aspect of each, salary
as a hygiene factor (Herzberg) and esteem as a lower order need than self-actualization
(Maslow), does not seem to hold in the case of elementary and secondary school teachers. These
findings may begin to explain why good teachers are being lost to other, higher paying positions
and to help administrators focus more closely on the esteem needs of teachers, individually and
collectively. Job satisfaction, motivation, and reward systems are included in one area of
organizational theory. The strongest influence in this area is motivation because it overlaps into
both of the other two components. A review of the classical literature on motivation reveals four
major theory areas: (1) Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs; (2) Herzberg's Motivation/Hygiene (two
factor) Theory; (3) McGregor's X Y Theories; and (4) McClelland's Need for Assessment
Theory. Maslow states that people are motivated by unmet needs which are in a hierarchical
order that prevents people from being motivated by a need area unless all lower level needs have
been met. Herzberg states that satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not on the same continuum and
are therefore not opposites. He further states that the motivational factors can cause satisfaction
or no satisfaction while the hygiene factors cause dissatisfaction when absent and no
dissatisfaction when present, both having magnitudes of strength. McClelland's need for
achievement underlies Maslow's self-actualization. McGregor's Theory Y matches much of
Maslow's self-actualization level of motivation. It is based on the assumption that self-direction,
self-control, and maturity control motivation. Reward systems must correspond to intrinsic
factors if employees are to be motivated. Satisfying extrinsic factors is an all too commonly
attempted method for motivating workers, but theory shows that these efforts cannot lead to
motivated workers. (Author/ABL)