Maslow's theories of motivation. Maslow's Motivation Model

The history of science knows many attempts to substantiate certain motives of human activity; it seems that this question should generally be considered in the context of “eternal” questions, and put on a par with such as “who am I,” “what am I for,” “what I can" and so on. Among modern concepts that aim to answer the question of the motives of human activity, one can cite Alderfer’s theory of growth, the doctrine of acquired needs, developed by McClelland, the concept of Herzberg’s two factors and a number of others.

In the mid-fifties of the last century, Maslow’s theory of motivation, which the scientist developed, initially focusing on the need to form modern systems management of socio-economic behavior in

As the starting points of his doctrine, A. Maslow proceeded from the adoption of such provisions, which then became the prerequisites for the formulation of the main ideas of the theory of motivation.

So, Maslow argued that human needs are an objective fact, while various stages of his existence he can experience first one of them, then another. Moreover, some of them may be present throughout life, while others may occur episodically. On this basis, the scientist concludes about the existence of a certain hierarchy in and, consequently, about the motives that are formed by them. As Maslow's theory of motivation states, in the course of life, needs that are not satisfied encourage activities aimed at satisfying them.

Further, if some of them are already satisfied, then they, in turn, form the motives for “taking” more high level. Based on this ranking, A. Maslow’s classification took the form of a pyramid, at the base of which he put needs, the satisfaction of which is the primary task. These are physiological: in food, rest, sleep and other factors of the elementary physical life support of the individual. According to Maslow, needs that have already been satisfied do not motivate a person to be active, and, in addition, their structure is dynamic - some that are already satisfied are replaced by others that are unsatisfied.

According to A. Maslow, it contains five levels (or steps).

At the first stage there are those that provide a person with basic survival in the natural environment as a biological being. These are the needs for a clean atmosphere, water, shelter, food, rest, and so on.

The second stage is occupied by needs, on the basis of which motives for ensuring one’s own safety are formed, and here Maslow’s motivation includes not only aspects of a physical nature, but also social ones - these are motives that encourage good work in order to have higher earnings, live more comfortably, receive medical care, etc.

The most ordinary person-in recognition, communication, maintaining partnerships and friendly relations, in organizing and maintaining collective forms of life, are located in the middle of A. Maslow’s pyramid.

At the fourth stage, Maslow’s theory of motivation provides for the location of needs that mediate and determine motives of a high social level - inducing activities that provide social recognition, achievement of power status, claims for public recognition of a person’s services to society.

The fifth stage is occupied by needs that initiate motives of personal social significance. Here a person is motivated to achieve high creative indicators and their recognition by society.

Since Maslow’s theory of motivation assumes that the connections in the pyramid are dynamic, that is, the achievement of one need forms a new one, and then the motive to satisfy it, it is important to imagine and be able to answer the question of what happens when a person reaches the fifth, the last, top step?

A. Maslow answers this question in such a way that achieving such a level does not mean at all that there is a disappearance or some weakening of the effect of needs on the formation of motives for activity.

Introduction…………………………………………………………….………3

1. The concept of motivation…………………………………………………………….……..5

2. The essence of A. Maslow’s theory of motivation…………………………..…..7

3. Application of the hierarchy of needs in marketing………………….12

Conclusion……………………………………………………………..13

List of references……………………………………………………….15

Applications……………………………………………………………………………….16

Practical back “Questionnaire for surveying cinema visitors in order to increase the level of attendance”…………………………………….18

INTRODUCTION

In the past, market makers learned to understand their customers through everyday trade communication with them. However, the growth in the size of firms and markets has deprived many marketing executives of direct contact with their customers. Managers are increasingly having to resort to consumer research. They put in more effort and spend more funds More than ever before, consumers are being studied, trying to figure out exactly who buys, how they buy, when they buy, where they buy, and what factors influence the buying process.

A. Maslow’s theory, although it was widely criticized, due to its universal capabilities, served as the basis for many modern models motivation of work and has found application in a number of organizational innovations. Maslow's ideas, while remaining primarily a theoretical construct that explains individual behavior “after the fact,” are still widely used to improve leadership style.

It is important for a marketer to find out how the consumer understands what products he needs and why it satisfies his needs in the best possible way. The proposed product must be primarily useful to the consumer.

The purpose of the work is to explore the application of A. Maslow’s theory of motivation in practical marketing.

Job objectives:

1) analyze the concept of motivation;

2) explore the essence of A. Maslow’s theory of motivation;

3) reveal the application of the theory of motivation in marketing.

The work consists of an introduction, three paragraphs, a conclusion, a list of references, applications and a practical task on the topic “Questionnaire for surveying cinema visitors”

Motivation concept

Motivation, considered as a process, can theoretically be represented in the form of six successive stages.

Naturally, such consideration of the process is rather conditional, since in real life there is no such clear delineation of stages and no separate processes of motivation. However, to understand how the motivation process unfolds, what its logic and components are, the model below may be acceptable and useful.

The first stage is the emergence of needs. The need manifests itself in the form that a person begins to feel that he is missing something. It appears in specific time and begins to “demand” from the person that he find an opportunity and take some steps to eliminate it. Needs can be very different. Can be roughly divided into three groups:

1. Physiological

2. Psychological

3. Social

The second stage is finding ways to eliminate the need.

Once a need has arisen and creates problems for a person, he begins to look for opportunities to eliminate it: satisfy, suppress, not notice. There is a need to do something, to undertake something.

The third stage is determining the goals (directions) of action. A person fixes what and by what means he must do, what to achieve, what to receive in order to eliminate the need. At this stage, four points are linked:

1. what should I get to eliminate the need;

2. what should I do to get what I want;

3. to what extent can I achieve what I want;

4. how much what I can get can eliminate the need.

The fourth stage is the implementation of action. At this stage, a person expends effort in order to carry out actions that should ultimately provide him with the opportunity to obtain something in order to eliminate the need. Since the work process has the opposite effect on motivation, adjustments to goals can occur at this stage.

The fifth stage is receiving a reward for performing an action. Having done some work, a person either directly receives something that he can use to eliminate a need, or something that he can exchange for an object he desires. At this stage, it becomes clear to what extent the implementation of actions gave the desired result. Depending on this, there is either a weakening, preservation, or strengthening of motivation to action.

The sixth stage is the elimination of need. Depending on the degree of relief of tension caused by the need, as well as on whether the elimination of the need calls weakening or strengthening the motivation for the activity, the person either stops the activity before a new need arises, or continues to look for opportunities and take actions to eliminate the need.

Knowledge of the logic of the motivation process does not provide significant advantages in managing this process. Several factors can be pointed out that complicate and make unclear the process of practical deployment of motivation. An important factor is not the obviousness of motives. One can assume and guess about what motives are at work, but it is impossible to “isolate” them explicitly.

The next important factor is the variability of the motivational process. The nature of the motivational process depends on what needs initiate it. However, the needs themselves are in a complex dynamic interaction with each other, often contradicting each other or, conversely, strengthening the actions of individual needs - while the components of this interaction can change over time, changing the direction and nature of the action of motives, therefore, even with the deepest knowledge of a person’s motivational structure , the motives of his action may result in unforeseen changes in a person’s behavior and an unexpected reaction on his part to motivating influences.

Another factor making motivational process each individual person is unique and not one hundred percent predictable, is the difference in the innovative structures of individual people, varying degrees influence of the same motives on different people, varying degrees of dependence of the action of some motives on others. In some people the drive to achieve results may be very strong, while in others it may be relatively weak. In this case, this motive will have a different effect on people’s behavior. Another situation is also possible: two people have an equally strong motive to achieve a result. But for one, this motive dominates over all others, and he will achieve results by any means. For another, this motive is comparable in strength to the motive for participation in joint actions. In this case, this person will behave differently.

The process of motivation is very complex and ambiguous. Exists large number various theories motivations trying to explain this phenomenon

The essence of A. Maslow's theory of motivation

The research of the American psychologist Abraham Maslow (A. Maslow, 1908-1970) is the basis for the study of human behavior at work and is used in motivation management, conflict management and other areas of modern management.

According to Maslow (Hierarchy of Needs), “Human needs are arranged in a hierarchy. In other words, the emergence of one need is usually preceded by the satisfaction of another, more pressing one. Maslow identifies five sets of goals, which he calls basic needs. He includes: physiological needs, the need for security, the need for love, the need to satisfy self-esteem and, finally, the need for self-actualization. The hierarchical nature of these needs or goals means that “the dominant goal monopolizes consciousness and in a certain way stimulates and organizes the various abilities of the organism required to achieve it. Less pressing needs are minimized or even forgotten or denied” (Maslow, 1943) (this view has received the most criticism).

Needs in order of priority:

1) physiological needs (hunger, thirst, shelter, warmth, sleep, etc.);

2) security needs (family safety, health, employment, stability);

3) needs of belonging and love (friendship, family, belonging to a group, communication);

4) needs for respect, recognition (self-esteem, attitude of others);

5) needs of self-actualization, or needs of personal improvement (self-expression, personal development).

Maslow considers the basis of the hierarchy of needs (pyramid) to be physiological needs and, above all, the need for food. Here's what he writes:

“Without a doubt, physiological needs are the most pressing of all needs. First of all, this means that for a human being who has nothing at all, the basis of motivation will be precisely physiological needs, and not something else. A person deprived of food, security, love and respect will naturally, first of all, strive to obtain food. A craving for writing poetry, a desire to buy a car, an interest in American history, the desire to buy new shoes in an emergency is completely forgotten or becomes secondary. For a person experiencing a strong feeling of hunger, there is no other interest other than food. He dreams and thinks about her, he remembers her and strives to find her... Freedom, love, a sense of community, respectful attitude - they are all dismissed as tinsel, because they cannot fill the stomach. Truly such a person lives only by bread alone.

[...] When there is no bread, a person really lives by bread alone. But what happens to a person's desires when he does not lack bread? Other (more “elevated”) needs immediately arise, which replace physiological needs and become dominant. When they find satisfaction, new (and again “more sublime”) needs arise, and so on. This is what we mean when we say that basic human needs form a hierarchy of relative dominance... Only unsatisfied needs are dominant for an organism and its behavior. If hunger is satisfied, the feeling of hunger loses its significance in the system of personality activity factors.” (Maslow, 1943).

If physiological needs are satisfied, then, according to Maslow, new needs will arise, in this case, security needs. He believes that “everything said about physiological needs can be, albeit to a somewhat lesser extent, applied to desires of this kind. The body can only be covered by them. They can act as almost the only principles that determine behavior, subordinating all the abilities of the organism, which allows us in this case to imagine the organism as a mechanism striving to achieve safety.” Maslow illustrates his idea of ​​the need for security by considering the desire for security in a child and the behavior of neurotic or almost neurotic adults, who in many cases behave in the same way as a child who does not feel safe. As with physiological needs, he believes that “the security needs of the healthy, normal, successful adult are sufficiently satisfied within our culture... as a result of which such needs do not play an active motivational role. Just as a well-fed person does not feel hungry, a person who is safe does not experience much anxiety in this sense.” If both physiological needs and the need for safety are satisfied sufficiently, then, according to Maslow, the need for love, affection and a sense of belonging to a certain community of people arises, and the whole cycle described in relation to physiological needs and the need for safety repeats . Thus, “a person begins to feel especially acutely the absence of friends, lover, wife or children. He craves sensual relationships with other people, he tries to occupy a certain place in a certain group and actively strives to achieve this goal. He wants this more than anything in the world and usually completely forgets that at that time, when he was hungry, love made him smile.” Unlike the need for security and physiological needs, the need for love, affection and belonging to a certain group of people is satisfied in modern society much more difficult. As Maslow points out, “the inability to satisfy these needs is usually the cause of all kinds of disorders and more serious mental pathologies.” And again, when these needs are sufficiently satisfied, needs of a different kind arise. Maslow writes:

“All people in our society (except in pathological cases) have a need for stable, solid (and usually high) self-esteem, self-esteem or self-esteem, which must be reinforced by respectful treatment from other people. By solid self-respect we understand the feeling that is caused by certain real achievements and the corresponding respectful attitude of others... Satisfaction of the need for self-esteem leads to the emergence of a feeling of self-confidence, dignity, a sense of one’s own strength, capacity, usefulness and necessity in this world. The inability to satisfy these needs results in a feeling of inferiority, weakness and helplessness.”

The last and highest stage in the hierarchy Maslow's needs considered self-realization, self-actualization. If physiological needs and the needs for safety, love and respect are satisfied to a sufficient extent, “we can expect that a person will have (this does not always happen) a new need, unless he is already doing what he seems to be doing.” he is called. A musician must create music, an artist must paint pictures, a poet must write poetry, otherwise they will not feel happy people. A person must become what he can become. This need we call self-actualization... it consists of the desire to become more and more who you are, to become everything that is determined by your capacity for becoming.” Maslow readily agrees that this need can vary greatly from person to person. He again emphasizes that the prerequisite for the emergence of the need for self-actualization is the satisfaction of physiological needs, for safety, love and respect. He writes: “We have the right to call people who have satisfied the indicated needs [of the first four levels] “generally satisfied people”; and from this it follows that we can expect from them the most complete (and healthy) creativity. Because “generally satisfied people” are the exception in our society, we are not very familiar, both experimentally and clinically, with the phenomenon of self-actualization. Its research is a matter of the future.”

Each personality has specific groups of hobbies. By constantly implementing them, a person achieves high altitudes feeling life satisfaction. For this to happen, motivation is required. Dozens of concepts have been created on this matter, but the most popular is Maslow’s theory of motivation.

What is Maslow's pyramid

The pyramid of needs formed the basic motivation system. Thanks to it, everything a person needs is clearly displayed. This model has another name - Maslow's ladder. This comparison is not accidental, because the individual slowly rises through each step, gradually moving to a new level. If the most base requirements are not satisfied, then others will not be realized.

But it is important to realize that the scientist did not share the growth of the horizons of all people and each person individually. Each of us is an individual. Therefore, there are no specific plans that apply to humanity as a whole.

The meaning of the pyramid hierarchy

Maslow's needs motivation is identified by researchers with the pyramid of power. It is based on the existence of material values ​​in humans. The more there are, the more power is required.

Hierarchical thinkers love to use this form of needs. They are confident that success is built solely on competition. The more active she is, the higher the chance of getting to the next stage. In theory, a person will feel happy.

Joys are simple:

• finance;
• children;
• family ties;
• Job;

Physiological and spiritual hobbies in the pyramid

The psychologist in his scheme proposed two types of needs:

• physiological;
• spiritual.

Each of us moves from easy to difficult. The teaching is based on primary instincts:

• satisfy intimacy;
• eat;

The next step is the need for safety and order. The third level deals with dreams of being loved and loving. Over 90% of the Earth's inhabitants stop at this position.

Movement on steps

Motivation according to Maslow involves moving to the following groups of needs like this: a person refuses food for a week. For this reason, he thinks about finding food, and not about self-realization. He is simply not interested in anything else.

When an individual has enough food and water resources, then only then does he think about safety. He needs clothes to stay warm. Or an apartment in which he will wait out bad weather. This also includes cash savings and the goal of generating growing income. This is the stability that every person is drawn to.

Love in a pyramid

What other passions do people have? They wish great and sincere love. After the initial needs there is a desire for development. The individual is captivated by the goal of being loved and loving.

At this stage, mutual understanding is sought from other people. The professor believed that love cannot be equated with intimate attraction. Further personality formation becomes impossible if a person does not love anyone. This is matched by a shortage useful vitamins for the body. If you carefully observe a small child, it will be clear that the proposed theory is correct.

What types of love does Maslow identify? They are divided into the following groups:

1. Scarce love. This type is characteristic of selfish people, because... a person, even through forbidden means, wants to get what he needs.
2. Giving love. The individual in this example of behavior already understands how unique each person is and accepts his life values.

Self-esteem

When a person has learned to love and receive love from others, he dreams of respect. It is divided into two groups:

• approval from others;
• self-esteem (this includes the desire to achieve goals, professionalism and freedom).

If a person is treated with respect by other people, then he has a feeling of importance and high status. If you have low self-esteem, it is unlikely that you will be able to act effectively. Therefore it needs to be increased. In addition, it is important to feel useful.

Self-improvement as the top step

Self-improvement is at the top of the needs model. In other words, this is a kind of urge to be who you can. To achieve this level of development, you need to realize your needs and abilities. Abraham Maslow said that only a few would achieve this level. This fails because no one believes in their own potential. Everyone is afraid to discover new talents in themselves, because... not ready to achieve success.

The environment also plays a role. IN the right society strong man will quickly develop your skills. This evolution can be traced from childhood. In a problematic environment that needs nothing, there is no desire to realize oneself. In this case, Abraham recommended changing his social circle.

Individual approaches to achieve goals

Necessity groups can be implemented in other ways. The individual model often differs from the generally accepted one. For example, the dissatisfaction of any base needs, but at the same time the person moves forward and achieves results.

Years later, Maslow recognized that parallel sets of needs could emerge. For example, self-esteem and the need for food are perfectly combined. Moreover, it is worth noting that today core values Not everyone is satisfied. However, such patterns of interests do not prevent a person from pursuing self-realization. Low-level needs are satisfied to the extent possible.

Evolution of the theory

Maslow's motivation was refined back in the fifties. He came up with two main groups:

• development;
• addictions.

As a result, the psychotherapist came to the conclusion that people who want self-realization have the following personal qualities:

• democracy;
• naturalness, spontaneity;
• adequate perception of reality;
• focus on goals;
• a kind of mysticism;
• culture.

It was during this period that the scientist abandoned the original model of the hierarchy of needs. This is not taken into account by people who only superficially study the model vital interests. Abraham Harold admitted that absolutely anyone can achieve self-realization if they want to.

Never stop there, improve your needs. The more there are, the better.

According to Abraham Maslow, carefully described in his works “Motivation and Personality”, it has found wide application in the field of personnel management, in the art of product promotion, and in psychology.

It is curious that at one time, when the author himself presented his vision at driving forces in every person - his theory was received with hostility by the intellectual elite. There is still no clear opinion. Someone puts Maslow’s theory of motivation as the cornerstone in their practical activities, and someone still doesn’t trust her...

The brief essence of this theory is presented in the article: below you can download the original “Motivation and Personality”, in which you will never even see the word “ Pyramid"(but thoughts about the hierarchy of needs can be seen very clearly). The author devoted 16 years to studying human needs, despite the general criticism of authorities in the field of psychology, and rethought his works several times...

Therefore, it is very difficult to make a grimace, a consistency from his works, and compress it all into one article.

To visually represent his theory and understand the essence, it is enough to understand his super short version in the form of a pyramid, link above...

But still, I will try, firstly, to list the most important theses from his theory of motivation, and secondly, I will announce the very interesting thoughts of A. Maslow.

Maslow's theory of motivation

A person is motivated in his life by needs, so below are the needs themselves from primary and dominant to high-level:

1. Physiological needs

Physiological needs are expressed in urges, unconscious, semi-conscious or explicit, aimed at ensuring the vital activity of the human organism (body) as a whole.

In most (but not always), this is a motivation to satisfy hunger, thirst, the need for sleep... etc.

First of all, a person strives to satisfy these very needs. Because they are paramount, he will not think about love while he is very hungry, until the body satisfies its physiological needs for its normal functioning.

The thoughts and actions of a person whose physiological needs are not satisfied will be aimed entirely at satisfying them. The entire psychology of the individual as a whole will be affected. So such a person will fulfill exactly this need in his life. But as soon as he satisfies it, his attention will shift to satisfying a “higher” need...

2. Need for security

This is the next level of need after satisfying physiological needs.

The desires of the individual (all the efforts of the mind) will be aimed at ensuring the protection of his life and interests.

Typically, this includes: the very need for human safety in general (protection from adversities associated with life), the desire for stability and constancy (freedom from fears and anxieties), the need for structure, order, law... etc. (based, in part, , like the first need - on the so-called self-preservation instincts)

Will dominate over all other needs only in the most critical situations, when the person realizes high degree danger, as a threat to one's life.

3. The need for belonging and love (social needs)

This is the next level of a person’s desire (his motivation) after satisfying the need for security.

The goals in the life of such a person are: not to be lonely, to be loved and accepted by society. To be understood by him, to find a soul mate, or his soul mate (although this case may contain other needs). The desire to belong to a group, a nation...

Maslow speaks of social needs as herd instincts - the underlying basis of this need.

If it is not satisfied, it can lead to disastrous psychological trauma and consequences... And if it is successfully satisfied, the individual gains confidence in his abilities, in his significance...

4. The need for self-actualization

Having satisfied all the above needs, a person is looking for an environment and activity in which he can express himself, express his full potential, which is different from the abilities and talents of other people. This is self-actualization.

This can happen differently for each individual. Some people want to achieve great heights, but for others, little is enough. Some connection is observed with the intelligence of the individual himself. The more intellectual this person is, the more pretentious his desires, the more unique his needs for self-actualization.

Desire, craving for freedom, democracy are manifestations of such a need. Because only in a free environment, with freedom of speech and action, can one express oneself sufficiently flexibly.

5. Need for knowledge and understanding

It can be expressed differently - as curiosity and the desire to satisfy it, a desire to systematize and generalize information. The next step after satisfying the needs listed above.

On the one hand, curiosity is the desire to find new information, which would help satisfy lower needs or improve their quality. Such cognition is a feature of all highly evolved mammals.

On the other hand, the process of learning and accepting new things is in itself not connected with other needs, it is emotionally rich, causing emotional and sensitive experiences.

If the previously described needs: may occur in certain moment- the moment of saturation, then the need for knowledge and understanding is not limited both in time and in achievement.

6. Aesthetic needs

A little-studied need, in other words, the need for beauty and correctness, truth, truth... It is very problematic to clearly separate it from other needs. Circumstantial evidence points to its existence.

Maslow: Motivation and personality, interesting thoughts from his works

There are quite a lot of interesting thoughts, you can download the book itself below. But the most interesting thoughts in the context of the blog are worth voicing.

Man never will not understand the needs of other people if he himself has never experienced them before.(who grew up with plenty of food can be extremely cruel to poor people who are in dire need of food).

Having satisfied a need, especially a lower one, the focus of a person’s attention shifts to the desire to satisfy a higher need, at the same time, the person himself may already experience apathy (indifference) to disgust (disgust) towards a recently satisfied need.

A person values ​​what can satisfy his basic needs, and ceases to appreciate what has already been satisfied, but at some stage a reverse may occur - a return to the old need (we don’t value what we have, and when we lose it, we cry)

All positive human values ​​(kindness, generosity, goodness, mutual assistance... etc.) are in fact the basic primary needs of a person.

A. Maslow “Motivation and Personality” (2nd edition)

Samara State Aerospace
University named after Academician S.P. Queen
Faculty of Economics and Management

Theories of motivation according to A. Maslow

Completed by A.A. Kalacheva,

N. K. Rudenko
group 733

Samara 2010

Introduction

The behavioral scientific approach, as one of the areas of humanistic management, involves the use scientific methods and research to study human behavior. Its roots are in sociology, psychology, anthropology, economics and other disciplines. The main task of adherents of behaviorism is to identify and analyze the driving motives of employee behavior and his interaction with other people in the organizational environment.

It was within the framework of this approach that the hierarchical theory of needs and motivational theory, authored by Abraham Maslow (1908-1970), were developed. It was his work that laid the foundation for the further development of the idea: “Motivation is the main tool for increasing efficiency.”

In our scientific work, we propose to consider the essence of this theory and prove its relevance at the present time.

To do this, we will sequentially consider the essence of motivation, the concepts associated with it, Maslow’s theory, the reasons for criticizing Maslow, modifications of his thoughts that are relevant for today and tips for work motivation workers.

Motivation - definition, essence, concepts associated with it

Motivation is the process of motivating oneself and others to act to achieve personal or organizational goals.

Labor motivation is the motivation to work that determines the employee’s attitude and behavior.

If we talk very simply about the problem of work motivation, then this is the extent to which an employee strives to work well, to strive for high dedication at work.

The main concept associated with motivation is “need”.

Needs are the most important prerequisites for motivation. Primary and secondary needs are distinguished:

· Primary needs are physiological in nature and, as a rule, innate. Examples include the need for food, water, breathing, sleeping and sexual needs.

· Secondary needs are psychological in nature. For example, the needs for success, respect, affection, power and the need to belong to someone or something.

In a conversation about motivation great value has such a term as “reward”

Reward is everything that a person considers valuable to himself. But people have specific concepts of value, and, consequently, the assessment of reward and its relative value is different. That is, what is valuable to one person may not be so to another. There are 2 types of reward:

· Internal;

· external.

Internal rewards come from the work itself.

Extrinsic rewards are the type of reward that most often comes to mind when you hear the word "reward".

Examples of extrinsic rewards are salary, promotion, symbols of job status and prestige (such as a corner personal account), praise and recognition, and additional payments ( additional leave, company car, payment of certain expenses and insurance).

The essence of Maslow’s theory can be briefly summarized as follows: a person’s motivation to work is the progressive satisfaction of needs from lower to higher.

In his theory, Maslow divided human needs into five main levels according to a hierarchical principle, which means that when a person meets his needs, he moves like a ladder, moving from a lower level to a higher one.

Drawing. Hierarchy of needs (Maslow's pyramid).

Let's decipher:

1. Physiological needs are necessary for survival. These include the needs for food, water, shelter, rest and sexual needs,

2. Needs for security and confidence in the future include needs for protection from physical and psychological dangers from the outside world and confidence that physiological needs will be satisfied in the future. A manifestation of the need for confidence in the future is the purchase of an insurance policy or the search for a reliable job with good views to retire.

3. Social needs, sometimes called affiliation needs, is a concept that includes a feeling of belonging to something or someone, a feeling of being accepted by others, feelings social interaction, affection and support.

4. Esteem needs include the needs for self-esteem, personal achievement, competence, respect from others, and recognition.

5. Self-expression needs - the need to realize one’s potential and grow as an individual.

Modern modification of Maslow's theory

Despite the obvious shortcomings, Maslow's theory is still used today. It remains relevant, albeit in a slightly modified state - in the form of “Maslow’s pyramid”, rotated 90. With this transformation of “Maslow’s pyramid” we will get a diagram of the number (volume) of needs satisfied by an organization with standard system wages.

Transformation of Maslow's pyramid

This image gives us a fundamentally different understanding of the tasks of the organization’s personnel motivation systems. This tells us that the organization must provide parallel motivation across the entire spectrum of motivating factors - from the highest to the lowest (according to Maslow).

Thus, the main task of the motivation system should be to transform the “triangle” of Maslow’s inverted pyramid into a rectangle, i.e. giving equal incentive weights to all factors influencing a person’s motivation in an organization. That is, as we can see in the figure, the company must first of all satisfy higher-order needs.

Graphic display of the objectives of the motivation system

Let's look at what exactly can satisfy each level of employee needs.

Figure 7 Place and role of labor incentive factors.

Some needs can and should be satisfied only materially, some only morally, but the overwhelming majority of needs can only be satisfied by a combination of moral (including organizational, i.e., obviously inherent in the management system) and material factors.

Collapse of the material incentive system

You can often hear that our people can only be motivated by money, that money is the most important motivator. But not only specialists in the field disagree with this human resources, but also many leaders.

This is the biggest misconception: everyone is motivated by money, except me. This is precisely what prevents many managers from using a wider range of means of influencing the motivation of subordinates. We are accustomed to the fact that money is the most important lever for influencing employee motivation. And it’s hard to imagine that money can act as a powerful tool that DESTROYS STAFF MOTIVATION.

Typical situations, in which incentive systems do not produce the required effect, can be grouped into four main blocks:

· payment of “prizes”,

· guaranteed bonuses,

· establishing unattainable bonuses

· bonuses for someone else's work.

Let's take a closer look at each of these groups.

Payment of the “premium”

The use of “bonus prizes” is found in many industries. Russian economy. Distinctive feature of these awards is their unexpected nature. It is believed that the use of this type of reward is intended not only to increase employee loyalty, but also to motivate them to work actively during the next period.

However, as a rule, there is no increase in work efficiency. In order for bonuses to produce results, each employee must clearly understand why he received the bonus and the completion of what tasks will allow him to count on it in the future. Otherwise, bonuses are perceived by staff as an element of a lottery and do not lead to the increase in motivation expected by management.

Reason for error:
employees do not understand how the motivation system works and what needs to be done to receive a bonus.

Guaranteed bonuses

The situation when employees consider bonuses based on performance as part of their salary is most typical for industrial enterprises who inherited the incentive system from Soviet times. Surveys conducted among employees of oil producing enterprises showed that when asked how much they received, the majority named the amount wages taking into account the variable part, not the salary. This means that existing system incentives do not focus employees on achieving any results.

Reason for error:

They perceive bonuses not as a bonus for good job, but as an integral part of your monthly income.

Unattainable bonuses

Creating an incentive system with excessive requirements can demotivate staff. If management tries to impose obligations on employees for which they are not ready to take responsibility, the desired result will still not be achieved.
If a company sets unattainable goals for employees, this may indicate the following:

Incompetence of management;
- management is trying to reduce the company's labor costs. If the goals are not achieved, there will be no need to pay bonuses and, therefore, incur additional costs;
- an attempt to correct the inflated self-esteem of employees.
However, if the goals are not achieved, the staff will not perform better. It should also be added that employees associate 90% of cases of failure to fulfill the plan not with their own inefficiency, but with the incorrect behavior of managers or with an irresistible external force that the same manager did not take into account. Therefore, we must be very careful in assessing the achievability of goals.

Prize for someone else's work

The performance of employees in some departments is traditionally tied to consolidated business indicators. At the same time, the impact on these indicators of the activities of other departments is often not taken into account. In one of the well-known companies, management was faced with the task of increasing sales. To solve this problem, employees of the relevant department were rewarded with bonuses, the size of which directly depended on sales volume. At the same time, incentives for employees of other departments whose activities directly affected sales growth were not provided. Thus, marketers' shares gave financial results, for which sales managers were actually rewarded. As a result, both groups of employees were demotivated: employees of the sales department due to the fact that the money earned was easily obtained, and specialists of the marketing department due to the lack of appropriate remuneration.

Failure to achieve the set goals can be a consequence not only of miscalculations made during the development of the motivation system, but also of errors in the selection of employees:

· For example, a company requires sales managers with a salary of $700 and an average monthly bonus of $300, that is, employees whose monthly total income will be $1,000. During interviews, candidates are told they will receive $700 plus an undisclosed bonus. The mistake is that the future employee may be a person whose salary expectations are exactly $700. At first, he may not be motivated to receive the existing bonus, which will primarily affect his productivity.

· It should also be noted that in some organizations, staff may not strive to achieve high productivity if there is a “star” employee. An example of this is the system of motivation for sales managers, when the one who sells the most receives a bonus. There is always some undisputed leader who regularly sells more products than the rest. Seeing such an example, others begin to think that they cannot sell more than him, and do not strive to do better. It is more expedient to provide bonuses based on other criteria, for example, based on the percentage of exceeding the individual sales plan.

Methods non-material motivation

In the previous chapter we looked at why using material methods incentives are ineffective. Therefore, the development of new economic methods of motivation is required. Let's look at them in more detail.