INTRODUCTION
In 1943, Dr.
Abraham Maslow’s article “A THEORY OF HUMAN MOTIVATION” appeared in
psychological review, which were further expanded upon in his book. Toward a
psychological of being in this article
Abraham H. Maslow attempted to formulate a needs based
framework of human motivation and based upon his clinical experiences with
people, rather than as did prior psychology theories of his day from authors
such as Frend and B.F skinner, which
were largely
theoretical or based upon animal bahaviour.
From this theory of motivation, modern leaders
and executive managers find means of motivation for the
purposes of employee and workforce management. Abraham Maslows book motivation and personality (1959) formally introduced the
hierarchy of need. The studies gave rise to the human relations movement which maintained
that man does not just work for
money that other personal and interpersonal considerations, such as
personal work, recognition,
friendship, social pressures from group
members and status, are as powerful in determing production and level of job satisfaction.
THE MEANING OF MOTIVATION
The concept “motivation” has been defined by different writers. According
to Schein (quoted in croft, 1966:46) motivation can be defined as “impulses
that stem from within a person and lead him to act in ways that
satisfy those impulses”. In other words, the
concept, motivation, implies
that “there is some driving force within individuals,
which drives them to attempt to achieve
a goal or objective, in order to satisfy
their need or needs.
The basis of
Maslow’s motivation theory is
that human beings are motivated by unsatisfied
needs, and that certain lower factors need to be satisfied before higher needs can be
satisfied.
According to
Maslow there are general types of needs
(physiological, survival, safety, love and esteem) that must be satisfied before a person can act
unselfishly. He called these needs” deficiency needs”. As long as we are motivated to satisfy these cravings.
We are moving towards growth, toward
self-actualization. Satisfying needs is health, while preventing gratification
makes us sicker act evilly.
As a result, for adequate workplace motivation it is
important that leadership understands the active needs for individual’s employee motivation.
In this manner Maslow model indicates that fundamental,
lower – order need like safety and
physiological requirements have to be satisfied in order to pursue
higher – level motivators along the lines of self fulfillment as
depicted in the following hierarchical diagram, sometimes called Maslows needs pyramid Maslows needs
After a need is satisfied it stops
acting as a motivators and the
next need one rank higher starts to
motivate.
Physiological needs:
physiological needs are those required to sustain life such as Air, water, food, sleep.
According to this theory, if these fundamental needs are not satisfied then one will surely be motivated l to satisfy them. Higher needs such as social needs and esteem are not recognized until one
satisfies the need basic to existence.
Safety needs:
once physiological needs are met, once attention turns to safety and security in order
to be free from the threat of physical
and emotional harm
such needs might be fulfilled
by
-
Living in a safe
area
-
Medical insurance
-
Job security
-
Financial
reserves
According to
the Maslow hierarchy, if a person feels threatened, needs further up the
pyramid will not receive attention until
that need has been resolved
SOCIAL NEEDS
Once a person has met the lower level physiological
and safety needs, higher level motivators awaken. The first level of higher level needs are social needs.
Social needs are those related to
interaction with other sand may include friendship. Belonging to a group,
giving and receiving love
ESTEEM NEEDS
After a person feels that they ‘belong’ the urge to attain a degree of importance emerges. Esteem needs
can be categorized as external and internal
motivators. Internally motivating esteem
needs are those such as self –esteem,
accomplishment and self respect external esteem needs are those such as reputation
and recognition.
Some examples of esteem needs are
-
Recognition
(external motivator )
-
Attention
(external motivation )
-
Social status
(external motivation )
-
Accomplishment
(internal motivator )
-
Self –
respect (internal motivator)
Maslow later
improved his model to add a
layer in between self- actualization and
esteem needs.
Self – actualization is the
summit of Maslow’s motivation theory. It is about the quest of
reaching ones full potential as a person . Unlike lower level needs, this need
is never fully satisfied, as one grows
psychologically there are always new opportunities to continue to grow.
Self – actualized people tend to have motivators
such as truck, justice, wisdom, meaning
Self – actualized person have frequent occurrence of
peak experiences, which are energized moments of profound happiness and
harmony. According to Maslow, only a small percentage of the population reaches
the level of self actualization.
REFERENCES
Adebayo
A. (1992) Principles and Practices of
Public Administration in Nigeria
Nigeria: Spectrum
Akamoa
P.U and Anyanwu A. (1999) Introduction to Management . Nigeria:
Avan Global Publications.
Alugbu
C.C. (2000) Elements of Management.
Nigeria :
Concave Publishers Ltd.
Ezeani
E.O (2005) Fundamentals of Public Administration.
Enugu: Nigeria
Gallerman.S.w
(1953) Motivation and Productivity N.Y.
American Management Association.