Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs example essay topic

The most well known theory of motivation is Maslow's hierarchy of needs. It consists of five needs. They are physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs, and self -actualization. Maslow separated the five needs into higher and lower needs and broke it down further into internal and external needs. The needs are laid out in five broad layers. The first is the Physiological Needs.

These needs are those required to sustain life such as air, water, shelter, sleep and bodily needs. The second is Safety and this includes living in a safe place, job security, and protection from harm. The third need is Social and this is the first higher level. This includes needs for friends, needs for belonging, need to give and receive love, and give and receive affection. The fourth is esteem. These needs may be classified as internal or external.

Internal esteem needs are those related to self-esteem such as self-respect and achievement. External esteem needs are those such as social status and recognition. Some Esteem needs are self- respect, achievement, attention, recognition and reputation. The fifth need is Self- Actualization. This is the summit of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. It is reaching one's full potential as a person.

It includes growth, self-fulfillment, truth, wisdom and meaning. Self-actualized persons have occurrences or energized moments of happiness and harmony. According to Maslow only a small percent ever reach this Self-Actualization need. Maslow's hierarchy makes sense from an intuitive standpoint but there has been little evidence to prove that it only works one step at a time or that you cannot do more than one step at a time. In some cultures social needs are placed before other needs. Maslow's hierarchy lacks scientific support but it is quite well known and is the first theory of motivation to which many people are exposed.

As the needs become satisfied the next need becomes dominant. "If you ever want to motivate someone, according to Maslow, you need to understand what level of the hierarchy that person is currently on and focus on satisfying the needs at or above that level" (Robbins, 2003, p 156). Clayton Alderfer developed the ERG theory to address some of Maslow's theories. The ERG is also a need-based model. It is also about motivation. It is based on the work of Maslow but it differs in some important aspects.

Alderfer reduced the number of needs to three because some of the middle needs / levers of Maslow's hierarchy have some overlap. The letters ERG stand for Existence, Relatedness, and Growth. Existence needs are concerned with survival. The relatedness needs is the desire to have interpersonal, social relationships and the Growth need is an individuals intrinsic desire for personal development. The ERG theory allows for different levels of needs to be pursued simultaneously. Alderfer believed that needs are more of a continuum than a hierarchical level and does not think that a lower level / need has to be fulfilled for a higher level / need to become predominant.

Also the more the growth needs are satisfied, the more they will increase in intensity. The ERG theory allows the order of the needs to be different for different people and it acknowledges that if a higher level need remains unfulfilled, the person may regress to lower level need that appear easier to satisfy. This would be known as the frustration-regression principle. The hierarchical aspect in the ERG model is not so rigid.