Maslow Hierarchy

Maslow Hierarchy and what Maslow missed

This theory puts forward the idea that individuals move through a fundamental number of hierarchical motivations, in a unique order, based on both physiological and psychological needs.

The Hierarchy of needs suggests that if these fundamental needs are met then an individual can focus on higher needs such as self-esteem and respect, eventually reaching a ‘metamotivated’ state.(Maslow, 1943)

Maslow refers to these three stages as deficiency needs, asserting that if these three areas are not met then the individual will experience negative physiological and psychological consequences.(Maslow,1954)

Adopted from Forbes.com

What Maslow Missed

(H O N) model, Developed in 1948, the hierarchy of needs is pervasive across many disciplines, including business, management, marketing, parenting technology, education, and psychology.

Simple, orderly, intuitively sensible, cognitively appealing and offering order out of chaos, the hierarchy of needs has only one problem: it is plain, flat, and dead wrong. (Denning,2012)

It’s similar in some senses to video games in that you have to fulfill the requirements of one set of needs before you can get to the next level up.The third level in Maslow’s model comprises the social needs like family, affection, relationships, work groups, and community.

The human brain at the base is driven by a basic instinct to survive with food drink and shelter.

In reviews of research based on Maslow’s theory, little evidence has been found for the ranking of needs that Maslow described or even for the existence of a definite hierarchy at all.

The system of human needs from bottom to top, shelter, safety, sex, leadership, community, competence and trust, are dependent on our ability to connect with others.

Belonging to a community provides the sense of security and agency that makes our brains happy and helps keep us safe.” Whether it’s the ancient Savannah or today’s Facebook and Twitter, social behaviors adapt to the environment to support that most basic of human needs.(Rutledge,2011)

But it offered an unrealistic route to meeting those needs: ascension up the hierarchy of needs towards self-actualization. In reality, Rutledge’s rewired version of psychological needs suggests a more realistic set of multiple paths, through social connection, to meet our varying psychology needs. What it implies, and the experience of radical management confirms is that getting work done by people working together in self-organizing teams can meet most people’s psychological needs without positing unrealistic goals of self-actualization as the be-all and end-all of life.

References

A.Maslow, (1943). “A theory of human motivation”, vol.50, no.04, pp.370-396.

A.Maslow, (1954)."Motivation and personality",New York, NY: Harper.

S.King-Hill, 2015, “Critical Analysis of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need”, The Step Journal, vol.02, no.04, pp.54-57.

S.Denning, 2012, “what Maslow missed”, Forbes, 29^th March,(https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2012/03/29/what-maslow-missed/amp/) accessesed 28 Nov. 2017 at 6.00am.

P.Rutledge, 2011,"Social networks:What Maslow misses",Psychology today,8th November, (https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/positively-media/201111/social-networks-what-maslow-misses-0), accessed 28 Nov. at 6.15a.m.