Effects of Motivation - Essay Example

XXXXX Number: XXXX XXXXX of XXXX Todays XXXX Effects of Motivation Introduction: Motivation plays a very important role in the life of any individuals both at workplaces as well as in the daily life. The levels of motivation do not only affect the production of an individual however it does also affect the daily routine and the day – to – day decisions. This report aims at understanding the influence of the various levels of needs of individuals at different times in life using Maslow’s content theory. The next section explains the theory developed by Maslow, following which the effects of these needs on the daily lives of individuals will be discussed. Maslow’s Content Theory: Abraham Maslow in developed the theory in 1943. This theory aimed at understanding why the needs of individuals change over time. Abraham Maslow named this theory as the needs hierarchy of employees. He developed that there is a difference between the motives and drives and every individual has nine main needs and motives to work. He developed a hierarchy of the needs and expressed them as featured in the diagram below. Figure 1: Needs Hierarchy Theory: Abraham Maslow (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004) As mentioned above Maslow argued that an individual has nine needs. He classified the needs in hierarchy as shown in figure 1. 1. Biological requirements: these needs include the basics like sunlight, food, water, sexual expression, rest, and oxygen. These are the basic requirements in everyone’s lives without which anyone would die. 2. Safety needs: The need for security, comfort, tranquility, freedom from fear, and threat from the environment. These needs form the next highest needs of a human being. If these needs are not met, individuals could fell inferior and helpless and unsatisfied. 3. Affiliation needs: these refer to the needs of attachments, affection, love and belonging. If these needs are not met individuals would loss confidence however if a persons needs are satisfied the individual would become a self – confident. 4. Esteem needs: These refer to the individual need for achievement, self – esteem, independence, prestige, attention and appreciation. These needs basically refer to the need for a stable life and respect from others. 5. Knowing and Understanding: It is human nature to have a need to know and understand the various things around one self. This need is based on the curiosity, experimenting, philosophizing, learning and exploring. 6. Aesthetic needs: These refer to the needs of individuals for beauty, looks and order. 7. Transcendence: Apart from the above mentioned needs, individual also have spiritual needs which basically refer to the needs of being one with the universe, or identification of god. 8. Freedom of enquiry and expression: These needs act as a pre requisite for all the other needs and it is an essential part for every individual to have the freedom of expression. 9. Self – actualization needs: These are the highest form of needs in an individual’s life. These refer to the need of individuals to have a clear need to know them selves completely and develop to the full potential (Maslow, 1998). Maslow argued that each of these needs required to be fulfilled in the order of the hierarchy since the needs would not be effective motivators unless the needs lower were completely satisfied. However he also noted that a satisfied need was not necessarily a motivator and it is human tendency to keep moving up to a higher level of need once the lower level is satisfied, and a person who reaches the self actualization stage, would need up with a desire for more in life. He argued that once a person had attained self actualization once, would want to keep aiming at achieving another. Maslow has not expected this theory to be rigid and the hierarchy to be a rigid form of the human development. His theory has received a lot of criticism and a number of authors have pointed out the fact that the individual behavior is such that it can respond to a number of different needs at a given point in time. Also similar needs tend to be responded to differently by different individuals. The human nature is such that a level cannot be set as a level of complete satisfaction and thus making the theory very vague. Also there are certain types of individuals who would tolerate a lower level in the aim of reaching higher levels in the future. Also the theory does not have enough empirical evidence and the model is argued to be based on the middle class workers in the UK and US where Maslow undertook researches (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004). Affects of Motivation: Maslow has carefully sub divided the needs of individuals at various points in life. If closely analysed, it is very clear that each of the levels that have been mentioned in the hierarchy of needs of any individual (Beer, et.al., 1985). The most important and minimum level of need for every individual is having a food, clothes and shelter. In the day to day life activities of any individual it is clearly seen, if these needs are not fulfilled individuals would not be able to work, or even take care of the daily activities of life. At this point where an individual’s biological needs are not meet, it is almost impossible for the individual to go ahead with any other activities in life (Huffman, 2005). Looking at the daily normal routine of individuals, it is very clear that every need be it the biological, safety, affiliation and esteem is very essential and these form the basics for an individual to work ahead in like. This is the case for all age groups and it is clear that if any one of these is not met it affects the psychology of the individual. Even if a person has all the money but no love, or any kind of attachment, the individual will gradually start loosing confidence and interest in life. Similarly if a person has the love and the basics of food, clothes and shelter, the productivity of the person will be much better, not only at office but also in the daily life (Huffman, 2006). The needs of individuals vary at all times, and the human nature is such that needs keep increasing constantly, making people unsatisfied. Thus the daily activities of the individuals are also affected by this. The best example to be considered is of a person who has all the facilities, of a house, food, shelter, clothes, security, love and all the needs have been fulfilled. The decisions and outlook of life of this individual will be very positive and one of competitive nature, to try and get more out of life. This is a positive attitude unless it turns to become an obsession and in turn reduces motivation of the individual. On the other hand a person who has nothing at all, or just the minimum needs are fulfilled, in this case the individual tend to be more pessimistic and tend to loose interest at times. In these cases most of the time the individuals quit trying to do anything new and the decisions made are normally very negative in nature (Maslow, 1998). Conclusion: In short, a person who has his /her needs satisfied will be more positive in life and more motivated to better. Also the mind frame of the individual will be positive and the environment around the person will also be positive. This positivity will be displayed in the actions and decisions made by the individual on a daily basis. People, whose needs are not met at the right time, tend to be affected not only in terms of motivations but also have a tendency to suffer from depression and psychological problems. Thus the fulfillment of needs play a very important role not only for motivation in terms of jobs but also in the daily life of the individual. All decisions are based on the levels of need fulfillment and will reflect well in the person’s behavior. Bibliography Beer, M., Lawrence, P.R., Quinn Mills, D., and Walton, R.E., 1985, ‘Human Resource Management: A General Manager’s Perspective’, Free Press, Glencoe, IL Buchanan D. and Huczynski A., 2004, ‘Organizational behavior’, 5th edn, Prentice Hall, Essex Huffman, K., 2005, ‘Living Psychology: Study Guide’, 17 March 2005, 1st edn. , Wiley Publishers Huffman, K., 2006, ‘Psychology in Action: Study Guide’, 27 March 2006, 8th edn. , Wiley Publishers Maslow, A.,H., 1998, ‘Toward a Psychology of Being’, 9 November 1998, 3rd Edn., Wiley Publishers Read More