BCom Notes Part II Management Salient features of Maslow’s Needs Model

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Salient features of Maslow’s Needs Model

Describe the salient features of Maslow’s needs model. Salient features of Maslow’s Needs Model

1. The urge to fulfill needs is a prime factor in motivation of people at work. Human beings strive to fulfill a wide range of needs. Human needs are multiple, complex and interrelated.

2. Human needs form a particular hierarchy or priority structure in order of importance.

3. Lower-live needs must be at least partially satisfied before higher-level need energy. In other words, a higher-level need does not become an active motivating force until the preceding lower-order needs are satisfied. All needs are not felt at the same time.

4. As soon as one need is satisfied, the individual discovers another need which is still unfulfilled.

5. A satisfied need ceases to be a motivator, i.e., does not influence human behavior. Unsatisfied needs are motivators, i.e., they influence human behavior.

6. Various need levels are independent and overlapping. Each higher-level need emerges before the lower-level need is completely satisfied.

7. All people to a greater or lesser extent; have the identified needs.

Critical Evaluation of Maslow’s Model

1. Human needs cannot be classified into clear and only specified categories, i.e. their hierarchy cannot be definitely specified. The determination of higher and lower levels is dependent on people’s cultural values, personalities and desires. For example, the higher-level need of an Indian worker may be the lower-level need of an American worker.

2. It is not necessary that a time only one need be satisfied. In other words, needs of more than one levels may be fulfilled jointly, for example: physical and esteem needs, Maslow’s model does not explain this multi-motivation fact.

3. Some of the assumptions of Maslow’s theory are not always found in practice.

4. It has been found by some scholars like Lawler and Subtle that physical and safety needs may be probably satisfied, but high-level needs do not appear to be rather satisfiable.

Though Maslow may not be the final answer in motivation, yet his model does make a significant contribution in terms of making management aware of the diverse needs of human beings at work, their diverse motives. Needs may not be the only determinants of human behavior but they are definitely important for understanding such behavior.