More Maslow
This is
just a very brief look and should not
be
interpreted as a personality test! Here is what your
answers tell you.
Once people have satisfied their lower level needs, they
can think about higher level needs, such as self-esteem,
belonging, achievement and self-actualization. Another
important point Maslow made was that people who are
confident their lower level needs will be fulfilled can put
off gratification. For example, if you have always had
enough to eat and know there will be always be plenty of
food in the house, you aren't very worried about eating
right now before you go to work or skipping lunch to finish
some task. If you can't eat until you come home, it's no
big deal. For people who have not always had a good meal
when they were hungry, who maybe aren't sure there will be
food left by the time they get home, it is much more
important to be able to eat right now. If you could not
answer "True" to the first six questions you still have
some basic needs that are not met.
Once your basic needs are fulfilled, the next level is
social needs, for love, friendship and belonging. A friend
of ours in the military commented, "It really is true that
a person will die for a piece of cloth or a medal." Social
needs, to feel that you are supporting your country, your
tribe or your family can be very strong. After your
belonging needs are met, the next level is esteem. Do you
ever see someone who associates with a group of people who
treats him or her badly? Do you know people who are not
treated well, insulted or belittled on their job but they
still stick with it? Maslow would say their belonging needs
to be part of something - a family, a relationship or an
organization - are not fulfilled, so they are trying to
meet those needs rather than move up to the esteem level.
If you could not answer "True" to questions 7 through 12,
you still may have some unmet social and esteem needs.
Self-actualization needs are those that involve creativity,
exploration and, in general, reaching your full potential
as a human being. If you answered true to nearly all
questions, you may be at the self-actualization level. You
are also very exceptional. Most employees are probably
somewhere below this level, and, in trying to motivate
employees, you need to keep that in mind.