Publisher's Synopsis
This essay sheds light on the tiers of Maslow's hierarchy of needs and elucidates how Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory is relevant to the workplace environment. Additionally, how Maslow's hierarchy of needs can affect an individual's life is delineated in this essay. "Abraham Maslow developed a model in which basic, low-level needs such as physiological requirements and safety must be satisfied before higher-level needs such as self-fulfillment are pursued. In this hierarchical model, when a need is mostly satisfied it no longer motivates and the next higher need takes its place. For instance, physiological needs are those required to sustain life, such as air, water, nourishment, and sleep. Once physiological needs are met, one's 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, having medical insurance, having job security, and by having financial reserves. Once a person has met the lower level physiological and safety needs, higher level needs become important, the first of which are social needs" ("Maslow's hierarchy of," n.d.). Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory is relevant to the workplace environment since it identifies the needs that give employees the motivation, drive, and impetus to work, such as being able to satisfy psychological needs and safety needs. Furthermore, Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory impacts employees in the organizational environment since it identifies needs that every employee may be striving to fulfilling depending upon their position on the hierarchy. Managers can take note of these covetable needs employees seek to fulfill and subsequently leverage that knowledge to turn the subordinate's job into an opportunity to help them satisfy those needs, such as by providing them with substantially more revenue so that employees can afford to meet their physiological needs. For instance, managers can entice employees that have safety needs to work harder and more productivity by "providing them with housing, medical insurance, and other job benefits" ("Maslow's hierarchy of," n.d.). Maslow's hierarchy of needs can play a pivotal role in each individual's life since every individual has needs on the hierarchy that must be fulfilled which ultimately has bearing on influencing his or her decisions and life style choices. Ultimately, sorting employees into various tiers within Maslow's hierarchy of needs can potentially be a viable method for managers to leverage in order to ascertain how to best motivate and rewards individual employees by knowing what needs each individual employee currently prioritizes striving to fulfill.
