I decided to read and analyze the article Meeting Employee Requirements” by Golnaz Sadri and Clarke Bowen. The article discusses how Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can be used to motivate employees. I chose this article because it is important for managers to understand what motivates people in life. Often, managers believe that money is the only motivation for a job, and that employees should be happy if their pay rate is sufficient. This topic interests me because I am not only an employee but also a manager.
Aspiring to open my own business someday, I am interested in discovering what motivates future employees to be both happy and productive at work. This topic is not only relevant to me personally but also aligns with what we have studied in this course. Chapter 16 of our textbook delves into Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and how it relates to employee motivation. The chapter explores why employees may feel motivated or unmotivated and offers insights into managerial strategies for motivating them. Additionally, the text explains how some motivational tools can be tied into Maslow’s theory about needs.
The authors explain that in order to motivate someone, you need to understand their needs on the hierarchy and focus on satisfying needs at or above that level (Sadri and Bowen 432). In their article Meeting Employee Requirements,” Golnaz Sadri and Clarke Bowen begin by defining motivation, intensity, and persistence. They also discuss the impact of wages on employees’ attitudes towards their job, citing recent surveys and research from the Employee Benefit Research Group (EBRI). Interestingly, they note that a recent survey showed salary only has a 20% impact on job satisfaction.
The article then delves into Maslow’s theory of fundamental behavior and outlines the five human needs. The first need is physiological – encompassing food, air, water, shelter – which can be satisfied with money. The authors provide examples of companies that are good at satisfying this basic need for employees. Next is safety.
The safety need is not only for physical and psychological security but also for health security. Sadri and Clarke point out that employees look for health insurance not only for themselves but also for their family members, which adds to the safety of both employees and their families. Along with family security comes the need for love and belonging. According to the authors, the love need is “the need for affection and belonging”. This need can be fulfilled by an employee forming friendships with coworkers or bosses and staying with the company long-term.
The article explains how managers can help fulfill employees’ needs by forming cohesive teams for projects, programs, and clubs. According to Sadri and Bowen’s article, the next need on Maslow’s hierarchy is esteem. Esteem refers to the need for responsibility, reputation, prestige, recognition, and respect (Sadri and Bowen 47). This need is crucial because it makes employees feel valued. Managers can build esteem by recognizing well-done jobs, offering opportunities for advancement, and providing special prizes or treatment.
The last topic in this article is Maslow’s final need: self-actualization. This refers to the desire to reach one’s full potential. According to the authors, there are several ways that companies and managers can help employees achieve this goal, such as offering tuition reimbursement, sabbaticals, or opportunities to participate in charitable organizations. Sadri and Bowen conclude by discussing how satisfying employees’ needs according to Maslow’s hierarchy can benefit the company as a whole. It is important for companies to identify which level of needs their employees are at in order to properly motivate them.
Managers need to be more intuitive and listen to their employees to figure out how to improve their work environment. The authors believe that by doing so, businesses can use their funds in a better way while also creating an environment where employees are creative, productive, and loyal (Sadri and Bowen 48). This article has a direct correlation with real-world applications and the points learned in our textbook. For managers seeking to understand how to motivate their employees and connect with what drives them, many of the suggestions presented here could be useful.
In today’s workplace, many companies have been focusing solely on the needs of their customers/clients and have forgotten about the needs of the employees who keep the business running. As companies become less formal and more relaxed, implementing an employee-driven work environment is becoming more common. Companies like Google and Apple have already taken steps in this direction, and it has paid off for them. Google has fewer walls in all of its offices to encourage interaction among employees, company cafes that are all free, play areas for when children are brought into the office, extensive benefits for employees and their families, and many other perks.
Apple can give Google a run for its money when it comes to putting employees first. Long-term Apple employees are allowed to take sabbaticals, and the company offers a program called Blue Sky” that allows workers to take up to two weeks off work to pursue personal projects unrelated to Apple. Additionally, exciting internship opportunities are available for students and recent graduates. The article is spot on in comparison with our textbook; the hierarchy of needs listed on page 432 of the text is identical, along with the explanation of those needs.
Both Sadri and Bowen agree that management needs to determine the level of the employee in order to meet their needs. According to the article, each need has to be substantially satisfied for an individual to progress to the next level” (Sadri & Bowen 45). Our textbook also supports this idea, stating that “Maslow argued that each level in the needs hierarchy must be substantially satisfied before the next becomes dominant” (432). When I had my husband read the article, he found it interesting. As a business owner, he was somewhat familiar with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs before reading this.
I asked him how he thought the ideas in the article were accurate with today’s workplaces. He stated, “Yes, because people look for more than just a salary package. It is a sense of happiness in an overall lifestyle.” I found this to be true as well. When I asked him if these are any of the things he would look for if he were looking for employment, his response was “Of course. More so, the self-actualization need. I think I would like to know that I am helping out in the bigger picture and it is not just about paying for our lifestyle.” He said he also enjoys learning about what makes people do the things they do and had never really thought about it before.
Being that my husband is a business owner, he has a general interest in the business world. Not only does he have to hire and fire employees, but he also has to decide which programs, policies, and procedures will be implemented or done away with. I enjoyed interviewing my husband because it was different from our normal everyday conversations and I got to see another side of him. It was challenging to come up with questions when it came time to ask him. I think interviewing a family member is harder than interviewing a stranger sometimes. In my free time, I enjoy attending poetry readings.
I find it harder to read my poetry in front of friends and family than strangers at readings. However, I enjoyed this article as I like to know how people think and what drives them. The article explained Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and how they pertain to employees, while also providing examples of how employers can implement them in their workplace. Both authors conducted research on the topic instead of just stating their opinion. Additionally, they backed up their material with continuous facts from reliable sources.
I am a manager myself and I believe that if companies and management in corporations or organizations paid attention to their employees’ needs, the turnover rate would significantly reduce in the workplace. So many companies are focused on the bottom line and not on the people who help them achieve it. When companies say they have a customer focus, they should also be employee-focused as well. The employees are the ones taking care of both customers and the company when it comes down to it. A satisfied employee leads to better work which, in turn, makes the company as a whole better.
I believe that when an employee’s needs are being met, the organization’s needs will be met as well.
Works Cited – Print:
- Sadri, Golnaz and Bowen, Clarke R. Meeting Employee Requirements.” Industrial Engineer, vol. 43, no. 10, Oct. 2011, pp. 44-48.
- Print Website: http://www.google.com/about/jobs/lifeatgoogle/best-company-to-work-for-fortune-2013.
- HTML Websites: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/16/business/at-google-a-place-to-work-and-play.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 and http://www.inc.com/paul-spiegelman/why-apple-will-make-even-more-money-a-change-in-leadership.html
