Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
According to Abraham Maslow, every human being has five levels of basic needs. Anyone who does not regularly see each of these needs met is subject to feelings of inadequacy or depreciated self-worth.
A strong understanding of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs should be incorporated into any management training program. Understanding the hierarchy will help managers to understand the behaviours of their employees as they move through life. The five basic life needs are as follows:
Physiological
Physiological, not to be confused with psychological, needs include food, water, air and anything that the physical body needs in order to be strong and comfortable.
Safety
Everyone needs and wants to feel safe. Children display their sense of insecurity by clinging to their parents, but it’s often more difficult to tell when an adult does not feel safe. Adults tend to react to safety concerns only when they feel they are in a threatening situation.
Love and Affection
We all want to feel love and affection and everyone wants to feel as though he or she belongs in at least some sort of group. Those without strong family networks or groups of friends often feel lonely or alienated.
Esteem
We naturally wish to feel as though we have a high level of self-esteem and wish to be respected, not only by ourselves but by others. The average human being will NOT focus on his level of esteem if he does not feel as though his need for physiological comfort, safety, and love has been met.
Self-Actualization
Self-actualization is the realization that each person has a purpose in life – each person has a goal that he or she was born to achieve. A person who isn’t doing what he feels is right will often appear restless or edgy. This need, again, will not be relevant unless all of the needs before it are met.
The needs at the top of our list would appear at the bottom of a pyramid, moving up towards self-actualization. We often strive for self-actualization, but feel hindered by roadblocks on each step up the pyramid of need.
As a manager, it is your job to recognize that each of your employees has needs. You won’t be able to help each person work through his life issues, but you can certainly help to support his or her professional growth by paying attention to these basic human needs.
Where are you on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? Are you reaching towards self-actualization or are you stuck in a different place on the pyramid?
Thanks again,
Sean
Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training
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December 22nd, 2008 at 9:35 am
Radha Soami Faith is a branch of Religion of Saints like Kabir, Nanak, Paltu, Soamiji Maharaj and others. You may call It a New Wine in Old Bottle. We should not expect any miracle overnight.
In this discussion, it appears, that experts from various disciplines are participating someone of course from psychology. He /she can understand my views more clearly.
Maslow has given Hierarchy of Needs. At the top of it is need for self-actualization or self-realization.
In our society we should learn To Live and Let Live and help to satisfy others need. When the lower order needs, physiological and sociological both, are satisfied then only a person think to satisfy need for self-realization or self-actualization in true sense. Else he/she may spend all his/her life to satisfy at the most the for self-expression instead of self-realization or self-actualization.
It is, therefore, the duty of every responsible person, at the least, of our society to give serious thought over it.
For the satisfaction of need for self-realization or self-actualization i.e. establishment of harmony of individual consciousness with that of universal consciousness we need following three things:
1. Mater or Guru (A Self-Realized Soul)
2. Secret of Levels of Universal Consciousness
3. Method for traversing the path.
January 6th, 2009 at 12:58 am
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