Abraham Maslow and the Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu have in common that they both became famous for a pyramid. It was Maslow who reproached Freud for having learned psychology from the sick half of humanity. But it is his studies and theories on motivation that provoke my current intervention, in this case his hierarchical pyramid of needs.
Let's first remember what motivation is: an emotional state that prompts a person to adopt a certain behavior when they receive an impulse or incentive that satisfies a need. Therefore, there would be no motivation without need to satisfy.
Among the most important contributions of Maslow to the study of motivations, I would highlight the following:
- Man is a global being. If you are hungry, it is not only your stomach that protests, but your whole being, and when you satisfy your hunger, it is your whole person that is content. Needs are interrelated and when one is satisfied, another appears that asks for satisfaction. Needs cannot be expressed in absolute terms, but relative, that is, the person establishes a hierarchy of priorities among them. Priorities are variable and are modified with some ease depending on the situation, context and previous satisfactions. Man is not a totally rational being: he can react to incentives in an (apparently) illogical way, without it being any pathological behavior.
We understand then that the person cannot be motivated by slices, as if he were a sausage. If something makes you feel unfulfilled, you may lose motivation, even if another need of yours is satisfied. This implies that if you are not comfortable in your work team, you will not be motivated by raising your salary (the first month, perhaps)
Nor can we consider a motivator as definitive, because when the person sees a satisfied need, another rises in the priority scale and replaces it.
Does this mean that it is impossible to keep a motivated worker?
Not fortunately. But you cannot count on universal motivators, or permanent motivators, motivators are personal and perennial. Therefore, to motivate your own workers, you must first know what their needs are, and apply the motivators depending on each person, counting the current state of it.
It is one of the reasons for the bewilderment of some bosses or businessmen, to see that a collaborator who requested something so important that it was agreed to him (it could be a salary increase, a promotion, a few days of vacation, etc.) seems today to have lost the impulse. Or that everyone in the office seems satisfied by the new advantages acquired except one who continues with the same reluctance.
Visiting Maslow's pyramid
Maslow's pyramid has two merits: proposing a classification of all needs into only five categories, - easier, right? - and show how these needs are hierarchized, in such a way that the higher ones are only attempted to be satisfied when the lower ones are sufficiently covered.
Maslow's pyramid (Source: Wikimedia)
The first level of Maslow's pyramid, physiological, corresponds to the basic needs related to vital functions, such as eating. They are satisfied in the vast majority of people.
But Maslow pointed out the security needs as very close to the biological ones. In them are found the needs of education, comfort, hygiene, etc. I will not hesitate to cite as an example the Spanish custom of lunch at mid-morning. It is an acquired habit that I do not think any company could think to abolish without provoking a strong wave of probably serious protests.
Next come the security and safety needs. When it is not available, the search for safety is an important motive for people's behavior.
At the third level come the needs for social integration, feeling accepted by the group.
Then come the needs for recognition and esteem where independence, freedom and prestige fit.
The pyramid is crowned by the needs for growth, development and personal fulfillment.
Here is a short video lesson in which the concept of Maslow's pyramid and its hierarchy of needs is explained in a simple and didactic way. (Pilar Vidal-Carreras - UPV - 8 minutes)
Maslow's pyramid applied to a new worker
The candidacy of a person arrives, currently unemployed. Hopefully your most pressing need is to find a job. The longer you have been unemployed, the less you will notice the conditions of work, just to get it you will be excited. Your security needs are top priority.
Then he will try to integrate himself into the group of colleagues, to feel accepted by all, which at first seemed secondary. You will make efforts and if you feel rejected, it will upset you. If the situation persists, your performance will be affected by… loss of motivation.
Once your socio-affective needs are satisfied, it is hoped that you will seek personal recognition, receive good treatment from the boss, and acquire status.
If you do not feel fairly recognized, if your status needs are frustrated, not only will more money not motivate you (even if you accept it), but it can cause feelings of self-criticism ("I am selling myself") and aggressiveness towards whoever tries to motivate you in this way ("they don't understand anything"; "they try to buy me"; "they don't care about people").
And later he will hope that the work improves him as a person, learn, develop, have initiatives and independence.
Different incentives correspond to each level of needs and in a group of workers, not all will be at the same level. The next question would be how to identify the level at which each of the workers is. I think that looking for incentives can be relatively easy, although the really difficult thing is to identify in what status of the Maslow pyramid they are.
Motivation or manipulation
Some consider that motivating another is manipulation, and I know that in cases, they are right. Getting someone else to do a lot and well what we want them to do and using incentives to influence their behavior could be manipulation.
Or do we consider that there is manipulation if the intention is selfish and will harm the other? Do workers want to be incentivized, and have a positive emotion, or do they prefer not to be? And what do you think?
