Motivation > Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory of Motivation

• Motivation is explained in terms of human needs.
• Human behaviour is influenced by satisfaction or non-satisfaction of these needs.
• Needs are arranged from lower-level (basic) to higher-level needs.
• Only unsatisfied needs can motivate a person.

Physiological Needs

• Basic survival needs such as hunger, thirst, shelter, sleep and sex.
• In organisations, these are mainly satisfied through wages or salaries.

Safety or Security Needs

• Needs related to protection from physical and emotional harm.

• Include job security, stability of income and pension plans.

Affiliation or Belonging Needs

• Needs for affection, belongingness, acceptance and friendship.

Esteem Needs

• Needs for self-respect, status, recognition, autonomy and attention.

Self-actualisation Needs

• Highest level needs.
• Related to growth, self-fulfilment and achievement of goals.
• Represent the drive to become what one is capable of becoming

• Human behaviour is based on needs; satisfaction of needs influences behaviour.
• Needs are in hierarchical order from basic to higher-level.
• A satisfied need no longer motivates; the next higher-level need becomes the motivator.
• Individuals move to higher-level needs only after reasonably satisfying lower-level needs.

• The theory focuses on needs as the basis of motivation.
• Widely recognised and appreciated for understanding need-based behaviour.
• Some propositions, such as strict classification and hierarchy of needs, are questioned.
• Still considered relevant because understanding needs helps in understanding behaviour.
• Managers can use the theory to identify employee need levels and provide appropriate motivation.

• Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1908; doctorate in psychology from the University of Wisconsin in 1934.
• Worked on human motivation and personality, emphasising the whole person.
• His hierarchy of needs and concept of self-actualising individuals contributed to humanistic psychology.
• Taught at Brooklyn College; later became chairman of the Psychology Department at Brandeis University.
• President of the American Psychological Association in 1968; joined the Laughlin Foundation in 1969.
• Major books: “Toward a Psychology of Being” (1968) and “Motivation and Personality” (1970).
• Died of a heart attack in 1970.

• Maslow’s theory explains motivation through a hierarchy of five human needs.
• Physiological, safety, affiliation, esteem and self-actualisation needs form the hierarchy.
• Only unsatisfied needs motivate behaviour; satisfied needs lose their motivating power.
• Movement to higher-level needs occurs after lower-level needs are reasonably satisfied.
• Despite criticism, the theory remains an important tool for understanding and motivating people.