Work of Maslow - Essay Example

Introduction

Wordnet Dictionary at Princeton University describes the humanistic view as “the doctrine emphasizing a person’s capacity for self-realization through reason; rejects religion and the supernatural”. This meaning can be explained in simpler terms in the form of a person trying to achieve the best with the resources available making use of knowledge and common sense.

There have been many different theorists on the humanistic view including Carl R. Rogers, Maslow and a few others who have time and again focused their lives on making the lives of workers better.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow and a few others have contributed much to our understanding of factors that make people contribute their best. Maslow identified a rank of human needs that motivate people. In Maslow’s theory, there is a general pattern of needs identification and satisfaction that people follow in normally the same sequence. He also put forward that a person could not reach the next higher need in the hierarchy until her or his current needs were significantly or completely satisfied. Many enterprises have been influenced by these theories and changes brought about in the structure of the organization have yielded excellent results (Maslow, 1943).

According to Abraham Maslow, ‘needs’ can be classified in a hierarchal format where the needs are ranked according to their importance. The basic needs have to be fulfilled before a higher need takes priority. The first level is the basic existence needs which include physiological needs such as food, water, shelter, and clothing. These are the most common needs that most people have except for those who live below the poverty line. Once an individual gets these, the person requires social security needs. These include security in terms of a person feeling secure from robbery, theft as well as the feeling of insecurity in terms of having a job or having a house. As a person moves upwards to the next level, lower-level needs are no longer prioritized. However if a lower set of needs is no longer being met, the individual will temporarily re-prioritize those needs by focusing attention on the unfulfilled needs. Next, comes the need for love and belonging with friends, families, colleagues, communities, and society. When they are satisfied, a person requires esteem needs with self-respect. When these four levels are met, a person reaches the self-actualization level where a person needs to realize one’s own potential. Self-perfection is required to fulfill this need which may never come. (Sørensen, 2006)

Example

When the needs of a social care user are matched against Maslow’s need theory, the two lowest levels of need seem to be supported by the social care providers. Food, shelter, security, and clothing are provided by the social care company satisfying the basic two levels of Maslow’s hierarchy. It is at this second level where most users of social care find themselves after being through with social care. However, love and belonging are not at all the manifesto of social care providers hence a person is stuck at this level as a lower need has to be largely satisfied before the next can come into play. Esteem and self-actualization needs may never be reached by the users of social care services and is impossible until they stop depending on the service and stand on their own feet. Where the social care providers are providing the basic two needs, they should also focus on creating such a strong base for their users that the users can progress from there on their own and not fall back to attain a lower need. (Sørensen, 2006)

Conclusion

So from the point of Abraham Maslow about the humanistic view, it can be said that humans are ungrateful creatures who always want more no matter what. As one need gets fulfilled, another need comes up and this cycle continues onwards until a person attains self-actualization and this is the nature of all humans.