Abraham Maslow was born on the 1st of April 1908 in Brooklyn, New York. He was the first of seven children (uneducated Jewish immigrants from Russia).
He moved to Wisconsin with his wife so that he could attend the University of Wisconsin. Here, he became interested in psychology.
He received his BA (Bachelor Of The Arts Degree) in 1930, his MA (Master Of The Arts Degree) in 1931, and his PhD (Doctorate) in 1934, all in psychology and all from the University of Wisconsin. A year after graduation he returned to New York.
While there he met Kurt Goldstein, who had originated the idea of self-actualization in his famous book, The Organism (1934). It was also here that he became deeply interested in humanistic psychology. This led to the development of his Hierarchy Of Needs model.
He spent his final years in semi-retirement in California, until, on June 8 1970, he died of a heart attack after years of ill health.
Lifes Work
Maslow developed the Hierarchy Of Needs model during the 1940’s and 1950’s in the USA.
The philosophy behind his model is that employers have a responsibility to provide an encouraging environment for their employees. This is to allow employees to fulfil their own potential (self-actualization) and his works are more relevant today than when they were written.
Maslow's book, Motivation and Personality, published in 1954 (second edition 1970) introduced the Hierarchy Of Needs, and Maslow extended his ideas in other work, notably his later book Toward A Psychology Of Being.
The Hierarchy Of Needs has been revised more recently by Richard Lowry, who is a leading academic in motivational psychology. The majority of scholars still hold the original in the highest regard.
Click the image above for a larger version. Anyway, what's it all about:
Hierarchy Of Needs Explained
Each of us is motivated by needs. Some attribute the development of this hierarchy of needs to thousands of years of human evolution, however I like to add that despite what we are led to believe, there is actually no evidence to prove human evolution at all.
Staying with the matter at hand, we must satisfy each of our needs in turn, starting with the obvious physiological requirements of survival, which are food, water, warmth and shelter.
Only when the physiological needs have been satisfied are humans concerned with the higher order needs of influence and personal development.
If the things that satisfy our lower order needs are swept away, we are no longer concerned about the maintenance of our higher order needs. To illustrate: if someone's marriage is in tatters, a work-related sales target will be irrelevant to them.
Self Actualisation, Employees & Organisations
Maslow's concept of self-actualisation is still used today; helping employees to develop their personal lives as well as their working lives.
Maslow saw that employees have a basic human need and a moral right to strive for self-actualisation, no more and no less than their employers.
Successful organisations will be those who genuinely understand, encourage and facilitate the personal growth of their employees. This goes way beyond traditional work-related training and development. It involves genuine care.
The best modern employers and organisations are beginning to learn 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.
All avenues of personal growth, whether from a hobby, a special talent or a general interest or experience, produces new skills, attributes, behaviours and wisdom that is directly transferable to any job role.
The best modern employers recognise this and as such offer development support to their staff in any direction whatsoever.
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Section:
Abraham Maslow
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The Hierarchy
Of
Needs
Created:
01 Nov 07
