Abram Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs & Herzberg Hygiene Factors

Abram Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs 

Maslow’s theory is widely considered among the most prominent psychologists of the twenty-first century. Several professionals, as well as workers, are knowledgeable of the demanding structure. This idea is based on a fundamental assumption: people have hierarchically organized requirements. Many businesses utilize this strategy to keep their employees motivated. According to Maslow's hierarchy of requirements, needs and wants to become motivators after the lowest levels are met since individuals have additional wants for friends or a sense of belonging. Esteem requirements arise due to workers' need to be acknowledged and enhance their reputation. Maslow characterizes the top of the hierarchy as where individuals seek the urge to self-actualize (Maslow, 1943).

Maslow (1943) created a model for analyzing the strength of demands and how people go from one state to another when basic requirements are met. As seen here, these needs are organized hierarchically:

Physiological Needs

These are the essential needs that humans need to survive. "Air, water, food, and sleeping" are the basic needs to move up the pyramid. If these needs are not met, a human would be incredibly motivated to fulfill them first, while the categories of desires will provide lower motivation.

Safety Requirements

Once physiological or fundamental needs are met, the additional requirements become crucial. Following that are the requirements for safety or security. People start to sense the need for safer places, such as shelters, secure areas, stable work, etc. Therefore, the urge for self-preservation arises at this point, i.e., the need to be free of bodily danger. 

Belongingness and Love Needs

After the first two demands of the hierarchy are fulfilled, individuals tend to progress and strive to fulfill their social wants. Because a person is a social creature that lives in society, they want to connect to and be welcomed by everybody. The desire for affection, love, and belonging arises at this stage. At this stage, connections are created.

Esteem Requirements

After meeting the preceding needs, a person wants to fulfill this need, which includes "self-esteem, self-confidence,” a feeling of being different, social recognition, personal value, etc. Once those conditions are satisfied, a person acquires influence and power and becomes more at ease.

Self-Actualization Requirements

It denotes a desire to realize one's highest opportunity. Those prerequisites are related to developing one's innate talents that might be utilized in various real-world settings. It could also be described as a drive towards becoming whatever one can be.

According to this theory, individual behavior is governed by his most potent desires, i.e., a person is motivated to fulfill a need. The leadership must understand the team's current ability and attempt to help them reach those specific needs while also contributing to fulfilling those criteria (Taormina & Gao, 2013). This will improve teammates' performance and propel the time effectively. Organizations can ensure a productive workforce by aiming to address every worker's unique needs.

Herzberg Hygiene Factors 

Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory, established by Hertzberg and his associates, investigates the desirable conditions for attaining goals and the unpleasant ones to avoid. He uniquely approached the question of the drive. By analyzing what satisfies a person's job and what depresses people, he concluded that features of the work atmosphere that delight employees vary significantly from those that fail to convince each other (Tan & Waheed, 2011).

In this context, the study looked at the perceptions and experiences of 200 accountants and engineers. Participants are instructed to recollect times when they experienced "exceptionally wonderful" and "exceptionally awful" at work. He discovered that two job settings had distinct consequences for behavior. The first group of working conditions has been described as the "maintenance or hygiene factor," in which the identical job features produce the same level of dissatisfaction when the circumstances are absent but do not inspire effectively when the situations are present. The second set of job situations is seen as encouraging, and their absence does not generate significant dissatisfaction.

Hygiene Factors

Herzberg recognized eleven maintenance or hygiene elements that are not inherent aspects of a task but are connected to the circumstances under which the job must be done. Corporate policy and management, technical supervision, job stability, conditions of employment, interpersonal relations with peers, colleagues, and supervisors, compensation, employment rights, personal life, and so on are all examples.

Motivational Variables

These elements favorably impact how workers operate in the company. Six parts motivate employees: success, appreciation, progression, work-it-yourself, growth prospects, and duty. An increase in such factors satisfies employees, while a decrease in such metrics has little effect on employee satisfaction.
The core research technique employed to establish hygiene over motivating factors is one problem. If questioned about how they are satisfied, people can attribute the reasons to themselves; nevertheless, when asked what discouraged them, they may blame their surroundings. The distinction between factors such as "hygiene and motivation" is even more complicated.  Moreover, the strength of employees' management or personal relationships with respective supervisors may determine if they are assigned interesting work, recognized for their abilities, and granted greater authority (Nickerson, 2021). 

Despite its shortcomings, the notion might be a valuable resource for organizations since it stresses that improving the context in which employees perform will only inspire them. Environmental components are essential because their lack contributes to dissatisfaction. However, focusing just on sanitary features would not be enough; management should also enhance professions by offering employees opportunities for challenging work, more accountability, opportunities for advancement, and a position whereby the employees can experience effectiveness (Yusoff, et al., 2013).

Reference List

Gawel, J. E., 2011. erzber Herzberg's Theor s Theory of Motiv y of Motivation and Maslow' ation and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs chy of Needs. Practical Assessment, Research, and Evaluation.

Maslow, A. H., 1943. A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), p. 370–396.

Nickerson, C., 2021. Herzberg’s Motivation Two-Factor Theory. [Online] Available at: https://www.simplypsychology.org/herzbergs-two-factor-theory.html [Accessed 28 November 2022].

Tan, T. H. & Waheed, A., 2011. Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory and Job Satisfaction in the Malaysian Retail Sector: Mediating Effect of Love of Money. Asian Academy of Management Journal , 16(1), pp. 73-94.

Taormina, R. J. & Gao, J. H., 2013. Maslow and the Motivation Hierarchy: Measuring Satisfaction of the Needs. The American Journal of Psychology , 126(2), pp. 155-177.

Yusoff, W. F. W., Kian, T. S. & Idris, M. T. M., 2013. Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory on Work Motivation: Does it Works for Todays Environment?. Global journal of commerce and management perspective, 2(8), pp. 18-22.