Abraham Maslow and his contribution to the development of management

thought

Perhaps more than any American psychologist of the past half-century, Abraham
Maslow has affected how we view ourselves. Although he is well-known as the originator of
the concept that bears his name, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, that's only a part of his legacy.
His provocative ideas about motivation, self-actualization and synergy have become familiar
concepts to many managers, management theorists and trainers. His humanistic approach to
psychology has influenced fields as diverse as counseling, health care, education and
marketing.
He has been best known for his hierarchy of needs, which is a theory about
satisfying the human needs in the order of the most basic, innate needs, culminating with selfactualization.But Maslow`s thoughts and works about human behavior are not limited to
psychology, having influenced many more fields such as science, religion, and more relevant:
management.
Motivation and Personality a work published in 1954, catapulted Maslow to national
prominence. The book was widely acknowledged as a major psychological achievement of
the 1950s. Its ideas, the hierarchy of needs and self-actualization-began to penetrate other
realms, particularly the field of management theory. To many people interested in psychology
and its practical applications in everyday life, Maslow's name began to stand for an innovative
and optimistic approach to human nature.
As such, the Abraham Maslow business theory proved to be the basis for the
enlightened management a new (at the time) management model which changed the way
the business owners viewed their employees. More specifically, the business owners started to
wonder what can I do for my employees so that they will better meet the necessities of my
business? rather than what can my employees do for me?. This is a radical change in the
management world due to the fact that employees since then have been treated more as an
asset of the business, rather than simply workforce, thus the managers started to invest in
their employees and that can be translated from a psychological point of view as a more
humanistic approach of the employer-employee relationship.
But returning to the famous Pyramid of Maslow, which is represented by the human
needs and divided into 5 sections as follows: the base of the pyramid consists of the most
basic human needs such as: thirst, hunger, etc., the next step is represented by so-called
safety needs, the third one is all about social needs, such as love and friendship, the fourth
one is represented by ego needs such as self-esteem and confidence and the tip of the pyramid
consists of self-actualization which is more about persuing the fine things in life such as
enriching ones cultural side by studying, reading, persuing ones talents and so forth.
By managers taking an increasing interest in this humanistic approach theorized by
Maslow and trying to facilitate more and more the needs from the first steps of the pyramid
of their employees, what they actually do is that they invest in their employees and thus they
create better workers for their own business. This is because Maslow has thought that by
satisfying the lower needs from the pyramid, an individual is more likely to be more effective
in other aspects of their lives and thus more effective at their jobs and individual tasks. As an
example, imagine that a worker has to concentrate at a job in the office when he is hungry.
Hunger is one of the basic human needs and an individual cannot focus on an intellectual task

when that need is not satisfied. The same rule applies when a worker hasnt satisfied his selfesteem needs, as an employee with a low self-esteem will surely be less effective as a worker
with higher confidence in his own abilities. As such, the managers have been trying to
facilitate more of those needs from the first steps of the pyramid as to increase the workers
effectiveness and so that their business will be more efficient.
At a purely psychological level, the pyramid of human needs theorized by Abraham
Maslow has been more praised than criticized. Concerning the business implications of the
pyramid, there have not been many critics, and even around the psychological level, there are
more that accept his theory rather than criticizing it. Some critics argue that the needs of the
pyramid are more inter-connected than we realise at a first glance and for example people can
have a high self-esteem even though they did not have satisfied their social needs. But those
criticisms are not that important regarding the management of an organization or business.
But as I mentioned before, there have been more praises than critics. And many
psychologists, scientists and business owners alike were influenced by Maslow`s works.
Douglas McGregor, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was among
those influenced by Maslow's work. McGregor's landmark book, The Human Side of
Enterprise, published in 1960, highlighted two distinct managerial perspectives: Theory X,
which views people as inherently lazy and selfish, and Theory Y, which regards them as
innately productive and cooperative. In outlining Theory Y, McGregor clearly subscribed to
Maslow's optimistic view of human nature.
So obviously the pyramid of needs thought out by Abraham Maslow influenced
greatly the management side of business. As a practical way of viewing how the pyramid
affects the workers, it is needless to say that you always need to satisfy the basic needs of an
individual in order for him to achieve greater things in what he is doing. By satisfying needs
more closer to the tip of the pyramid, the more the worker feels motivated and relaxed in
order to do his job flawlessly.
The main thing a manager should be looking out for, the basic need of an employee is
the physiological needs which translate into his wage, salary and working conditions. The
second step in trying to improve your working force is by providing their safety needs, as with
the pyramid of Maslow, but correlated to management of a business, this means aside from
the good working conditions, sick pay and/or the assurance of a safe job, not only physically,
but the assurance that it is a long-term job so that the worker will not feel stressed about
losing it.
By providing many socialising opportunities within the working group of the
company, the workers will feel a strong sense of community and they will naturally create a
bond between themselves and as such, better relationships between co-workers means better
results, better output from them. This is called satisfying the social needs of the employees. A
manager who realises this has the upper hand in profits because it efficientises the building
blocks of his company (the workers).
The fourth task a manager has in order to help his employees to self-actualize is
providing for their self-esteem needs. This can be achieved by stimulating and motivating the
workers with chances of promotion and by giving them positive feedback as to increase their
self-confidence. This is an important step in achieving the target, which is: a better worker
which is much more efficient that regular ones, because all his needs have been met and thus
is motivated to work harder and better.

The final aspect in correlating the Pyramid of Maslow with the management of a
business is creating challanges and stimulating tasks for the workers in order for them to
become greater in what they do. This is the self-actualization concept at the managerial level.
Having all five points achieved, the manager will now have put his company in a front
row seat of success. At least regarding his workforce. This is because employees who manage
to become self-actualized are supposed to be elite workers.
Maslow's concept of self-actualisation relates directly to the present day challenges
and opportunities for employers and organisations - to provide real meaning, purpose and true
personal development for their employees. For life - not just for work.
He saw these issues fifty years ago: the fact that employees have a basic human need
and a right to strive for self-actualisation, just as much as the corporate directors and owners
do.
Increasingly, the successful organisations and employers will be those who genuinely
care about, understand, encourage and enable their people's personal growth towards selfactualisation - way beyond traditional work-related training and development, and of course
way beyond old-style X-Theory management autocracy, which still forms the basis of much
organised employment today.The best modern employers and organisations are beginning to
learn at last: that sustainable success is built on a serious and compassionate commitment to
helping people identify, pursue and reach their own personal unique potential.
When people grow as people, they automatically become more effective and valuable
as employees. In fact virtually all personal growth, whether in a hobby, a special talent or
interest, or a new experience, produces new skills, attributes, behaviours and wisdom that is
directly transferable to any sort of job role.
The best modern employers recognise this and as such offer development support to
their staff in any direction whatsoever that the person seeks to grow and become more
fulfilled.