Message on Maslow's pyramid of needs. Maslow's pyramid of human needs

From this article you will learn:

• What is Maslow's pyramid of needs?
• Understanding Need Hierarchy Theory
• Is Maslow's pyramid of needs applicable in marketing?
• What is the alternative to Maslow's pyramid of needs?

In the literature on the topic of psychology and management, one can often find references to this theory about the hierarchy of human needs. There are suggestions that the conclusions of the author, set forth in it, are based on the study of biographies of famous people who have realized themselves in life and creative activity. As you probably already understood, we will talk about Maslow's pyramid of needs.

Maslow's pyramid of needs

In his work "Motivation and Personality" (1954), Abraham Maslow suggested that the innate needs of a person have a hierarchical structure, including five tiers. These are the following needs:

1. Physiological.

Their satisfaction is necessary in order to ensure survival and existence. Every living being has its own physiological needs. Until the needs of this level are satisfied (for example, in nutrition, sleep), a person will not be able to work or engage in other activities. For example, if he is very hungry, he will not be able to enjoy the contemplation of works of art, admire the views of nature, be interested in the content of fiction, etc.

1. In safety.

A sense of security is essential for people of all ages. Babies feel protected by the presence of their mother. Adults also strive to feel protected: they install good doors with reliable locks in their apartments, buy insurance, etc.

1. In love and belonging.

Maslow's pyramid of needs also includes social needs. It is important for a person to feel belonging to a group of people in order to feel useful and significant. This motivates him to social contacts and interaction with other individuals: he makes new acquaintances, looking for a life partner. A person needs to experience a feeling of love and be loved himself.

1. In recognition.

After the needs included in the previous tiers of the pyramid (in love and in belonging to society) are satisfied, the individual has a desire to earn the respect of others, the desire to ensure that people who are significant to him recognize his talents and skills. If these desires are realized, then he gains confidence in himself and his abilities.

1. in self-realization.

This is the level of spiritual needs: the desire for personal development and self-realization, the desire for creative activity, for the development of one's talents and abilities. If the needs included in the previous tiers of the pyramid are satisfied, then at the fifth level a person begins to search for the meaning of existence and study the world around him, he can acquire new beliefs.

This is how the pyramid of needs according to Maslow looks in general terms with examples of desires for each level of the hierarchy. Later, Abraham Maslow included two more tiers in it: cognitive abilities and aesthetic needs.
In its final form, the pyramid has 7 levels.


The scientist believed that the needs of a higher level will manifest themselves if the needs located on the lower tiers are satisfied. According to Maslow, this is quite natural.
However, the researcher noted that this trend may have exceptions: for some people, self-realization is more important than attachments, for others, only the needs of the first levels of the pyramid will be significant, even if all of them seem to be satisfied. Maslow believed that such features are associated with the development of neurosis in a person or they are due to adverse circumstances.

Hierarchy of needs theory

All of the above may lead the reader to wrong conclusions. After all, one might think that the needs included in the higher tiers of the pyramid arise immediately after the needs of the previous levels are realized.
From this, an assumption can be formed that the pyramid according to Maslow implies that the desires of each next step appear only after the complete satisfaction of all previous ones. However, it can be said that almost no modern person has 100% realized basic needs.
To bring our understanding of the hierarchy closer to reality, we should introduce the concept of "Measure of satisfaction of needs". It is assumed that the needs included in the first tiers of the pyramid are always realized to a greater extent than those that are higher. This can be visualized as follows (let's take conditional figures): for example, the physiological needs of an ordinary citizen are satisfied by 85%, his need for security - by 70%, for love - by 50%, for recognition - by 40%, and for self-realization - on 10 %.
The measure of satisfaction of need will give us a better understanding of how higher level needs arise after the desires on the previous tiers of the pyramid are realized (according to Maslow). This is a gradual process, not sudden. The transition to all subsequent steps is carried out smoothly.
For example, the second need will not arise if the first is only 10% satisfied. However, when it is closed by 25%, the second need will appear at 5%. If 75% of the first need is realized, then the second one will show itself by 50%.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in Marketing

Marketers often say about the pyramid of needs that it is not applicable in practice. And indeed it is.
First. The fact is that this theory was created by Maslow not for marketing purposes. The scientist was interested in questions of human motivation, the answers to which were not given by either Freud's teachings or behaviorism. Maslow's pyramid of needs theory is about motivation, but it is more philosophical than methodological. Every marketer, advertiser or PR specialist should be familiar with it in order to have an idea of ​​the variety of human needs and their complex relationship, but it cannot be considered a guide to action, since it was formed for completely different purposes.
Second. The task of the marketer is to encourage the consumer to act, to influence his decisions. The theory of the pyramid of needs is devoted to the motives of a person, but not their relationship with behavior. It is not suitable for marketers, because it does not explain what motive determines this or that action, saying that one cannot understand motives by external manifestations, that a decision can be due to several reasons.
The third reason why Maslow's pyramid of needs theory is not suitable for marketers has to do with the sociocultural context: in the modern world, people's physiological needs and their need for security are by and large realized.
Therefore, it cannot be said that a product that helps in some way to solve security issues will be more in demand than one that is needed to satisfy the desires included in a higher level of the pyramid. For example, a detergent with an antibacterial effect (giving protection) will not be more desirable than a drink that is positioned as a product consumed in a situation of friendly communication (that is, solving certain social problems).
When marketers tried to apply the pyramid of needs in marketing, it didn't work. Which is not surprising, because this is a psychological theory, which is completely incorrect to try to use in those areas for which it was not created. It turns out that the criticism of Maslow's pyramid that it is ineffective in marketing is completely inappropriate, since its goals and objectives were originally completely different.

American psychologist of the 20th century still carry a lot of weight in psychology, pedagogy, management, economics and its branches.

He is best known as the creator of the famous pyramid of needs, each step of which denotes a specific group of human needs.

In an extended version of Maslow's pyramid - 7 levels, and in the base 5 levels. There are also developments by other specialists based on Maslow's ideas, for example, the Henderson model, which includes 14 needs. The levels will be explained below.

Maslow's Theory - Briefly

What is a pyramid in Maslow's theorem?

Psychologists and psychotherapists of the early and mid-20th century focused primarily on study of deviations from the norm, and areas related to the study of mentally healthy people, their needs, difficulties, developmental characteristics, were studied not so actively.

Abraham Maslow (pictured) was one of those researchers who worked in the field of studying the mental norm and everything connected with it.

Abraham was born into a family of Jewish immigrants in 1908, and his childhood was difficult: he was an outcast among his peers due to his pronounced Jewish features in appearance and spent most of his free time reading books.

The craving for knowledge helped Abraham in many ways: he became one of the most outstanding students in the school, and after that he entered the law school. But he was not destined to become a lawyer: realizing his love for psychology, he changed his educational institution.

Initially, Abraham was attracted to ideas, but later he became interested in other approaches and founded humanistic psychology.

The first concept of human needs was outlined by Abraham Maslow in the early 40s of the 20th century, but later he several times returned to it and improved.

Initially, describing human needs, the American sociologist Maslow singled out a number of the most significant and sorted them into levels (see picture), depending on on the degree of importance for a comfortable existence.

If a person does not properly satisfy the "lower" needs, he will not be able to fully satisfy the "high" ones and, in principle, may not feel that it is necessary to do this. It is difficult to have the need to enjoy beautiful pictures if you are constantly starving.

Later, as it was refined, the concept became more perfect and received two additional levels of higher needs.

Classification of needs

Table with the classification of needs according to Maslow (7 levels):

These levels represent exactly the ladder or needs diagram that most people associate Abraham Maslow with. Originally it had only the first five levels, but after completion, there were seven.

At the same time, the five-level pyramid is still actively used, since not a very large number of people get to the sixth and seventh levels.

Figure Maslow's Hierarchical Needs Scale - 7 levels:

In medicine and the field of human care, the following model, created by Virginia Henderson based on Maslow's needs, is widespread and has 14 needs that need to be met in everyday life:

1. The ability to fully breathe.
2. Eat and drink enough.
3. Defecate.
4. The need to move, to change position.
5. Enough sleep and regular rest.
6. Put on and take off clothes, be able to pick them up.
7. Maintain body temperature.
8. Take care of the cleanliness of the body.
9. Maintain your own safety and not be a threat to others.
10. Comfortable to communicate.
11. It concerns religious people: to observe the canons of religion, to perform the necessary rituals.
12. Have a hobby and devote time to it regularly.
13. Have fun.
14. Satisfy cognitive needs.

This model is taken into account when working with patients, especially those who require care and support.

Primary and Secondary

Primary Needs- a group of innate needs, the need to satisfy which in one form or another has been present since the moment of birth.

The main support, a kind of foundation for all other needs are physiological needs: those thanks to which a person has the opportunity to continue life. If you stop satisfying them, a person will die.

And their insufficient satisfaction leads to the emergence of somatic and mental abnormalities that can significantly reduce life expectancy and worsen its quality.

Also primary are the needs that are on the second step of Maslow's pyramid: the need for security, the desire to be sure that nothing bad will happen in the future. This group of needs is also called existential.

At the core secondary needs are those needs that arise in a person under the influence of external factors. They are not innate.

The formation of secondary needs is influenced by:

Secondary needs include:

1. : the desire to be accepted by society, to have close social ties, to love and be loved, to feel community, involvement in a common cause.
2. Prestigious: the desire to succeed, to feel the respect of others, to earn more and so on.
3. : the desire to know oneself and the world around, to develop intellectually, physically, morally, to enjoy the beautiful and create it, to achieve all the goals and fully reveal the inner potential.

As a person develops, new secondary needs may arise.

Violated

- needs that a person is not able to satisfy for any reason.

Prolonged unsatisfaction of the need can lead to serious deviations in mental health.

And if the vital needs are not satisfied, then in the physical, up to death.

The topic of disturbed needs is most closely considered in the context of helping people with serious somatic diseases who, for health reasons, cannot provide care for themselves.

This topic is included in the programs of medical and some pedagogical educational institutions, courses for training nurses.

The task of the person who cares for the sick is to identify what needs he is unable to satisfy and help him: for example, to ensure the cleanliness of the body, talk, read books aloud, help change posture, feed, give medicine.

If the patient cannot properly explain what he needs to the person who will take care of him, it is important to ask his relatives, get acquainted with the recommendations of the attending physicians and with the medical record, assess the situation in the house and the general condition of the patient.

Even relatively mobile old people cannot always fully meet their needs due to health problems.

Therefore, it is important that relatives are interested in their condition and help as much as possible: installed handrails and non-slip coatings in the bathroom, brought purchases, talked, went for a walk with them.

In some cases, a violation of needs is observed in people who do not have serious somatic diseases.

This often indicates that the person has mental illness, for example, at which there may not be forces to perform elementary actions.

In such cases, it is important to contact a psychotherapist as soon as possible.

Timely satisfaction of needs will enable a person feel comfortable and enjoy life, therefore, it is important to take care of yourself more often and of those around you who find it difficult to meet their own needs on their own.

About Abraham Maslow's pyramid of needs in this video:

famous Maslow's pyramid of needs, which is familiar to many from the lessons of social science, reflects the hierarchy of human needs.

Recently, it has been criticized by psychologists and sociologists. But is it really useless? Let's try to figure it out.

The essence of Maslow's pyramid

The work of the scientist himself and common sense suggest that the previous level of the pyramid does not have to be “closed” 100% before the desire to be realized at the next step appears.

In addition, it is obvious that under the same conditions, one person will feel some need satisfied, while the other will not.

We can say that different people have different heights of the steps of the pyramid. Next, let's talk about them in more detail.

Maslow's pyramid levels

Quite briefly and succinctly, the essence of Maslow's pyramid can be explained as follows: until the needs of the lowest order are satisfied to a certain extent, a person will not have higher “higher” aspirations.

The work of the scientist himself and common sense suggest that the previous level of the pyramid does not have to be “closed” 100% before the desire to be realized at the next step appears. In addition, it is obvious that under the same conditions, one person will feel some need satisfied, while the other will not. We can say that different people have different heights of the steps of the pyramid. Next, let's talk about them in more detail.

Physiological Needs

First of all, it is the need for food, air, water and enough sleep. Naturally, without this, a person will simply die. In the same category, Maslow attributed the need for sexual intercourse. These aspirations are related to us and it is impossible to get away from them.

The Need for Security

This includes both simple "animal" safety, i.e. the presence of a reliable shelter, the absence of the threat of attack, etc., and due to our society (for example, people experience great stress when there is a risk of losing their jobs).

The need for belonging and love

This is the desire to be part of a certain social group, to take its place in it, which is accepted by the rest of the members of this community. The need for love needs no explanation.

The need for respect and recognition

This is the recognition of the achievements and successes of a person by as many members of society as possible, although for some, their own family will be enough.

The need for knowledge, research

At this stage, a person begins to be burdened by various worldview issues, like the meaning of life. There is a desire to immerse yourself in science, religion, esotericism, to try to understand this world.

The need for aesthetics and harmony

It is understood that at this level, a person seeks to find beauty in everything, accepts the Universe as it is. In everyday life, he strives for maximum order and harmony.

The need for self-realization

This is the definition of one's abilities and their maximum realization. A person at this stage is mainly engaged in creative activity, actively developing spiritually. According to Maslow, only about 2% of humanity reaches such heights.

You can see a generalized view of the pyramid of needs in the figure. A large number of examples can be cited, both confirming and refuting this scheme. So our hobbies often help to satisfy the desire to belong to some community.

So they go one step further. Around us we see many examples of people who have not reached the 4th level of the pyramid and therefore experience some spiritual discomfort.

However, not everything is so smooth. You can easily find examples that do not fit into this theory. The easiest way to find them is in history. For example, young Charles Darwin's craving for knowledge appeared during a very dangerous voyage, and not in calm and well-fed home conditions.

Such contradictions lead to the fact that today a large number of scientists reject the pyramid of needs familiar to us.

Application of Maslow's pyramid

And yet Maslow's theory has found its application in our lives. Marketers use it to target certain aspirations of the individual, some personnel management systems, by manipulating the motivation of employees, are built on the basis of a pyramid.

The creation of Abraham Maslow can help each of us in setting personal goals, namely: to decide what you really want and what you really need to achieve.

In conclusion, we note that the original works of Maslow did not contain the pyramid itself. She was born only 5 years after his death, but of course based on the work of the scientist. According to rumors, Abraham himself at the end of his life revised his views. How seriously to take his creation today is up to you.

Maslow's pyramid of needs is a commonly used name for the hierarchical model of human needs. The pyramid of needs reflects one of the most popular and well-known theories of motivation - the theory of the hierarchy of needs. This theory is also known as needs theory or hierarchy theory.

Hierarchy of needs theory

Maslow distributed the needs as they increase, explaining this construction by the fact that a person cannot experience high-level needs while he needs more primitive things. At the base is physiology (satisfying hunger, thirst, sexual needs, etc.). A step higher is the need for security, above it is the need for affection and love, as well as for belonging to any social group. The next step is the need for respect and approval, over which Maslow placed cognitive needs (thirst for knowledge, desire to perceive as much information as possible). This is followed by the need for aesthetics (the desire to harmonize life, fill it with beauty, art). And finally, the last step of the pyramid, the highest, is the desire to reveal the inner potential (it is self-actualization).

It is important to note that each of the needs does not have to be completely satisfied - partial saturation is enough to move to the next step.

“I am absolutely convinced that a person lives by bread alone only in conditions where there is no bread,” Maslow explained. - But what happens to human aspirations when there is plenty of bread and the stomach is always full? Higher needs appear, and it is they, and not physiological hunger, that govern our body. As some needs are satisfied, others arise, higher and higher. So gradually, step by step, a person comes to the need for self-development - the highest of them.

Maslow was well aware that the satisfaction of primitive physiological needs is the basis of the foundations. In his view, an ideal happy society is, first of all, a society of well-fed people who have no reason for fear or anxiety. If a person, for example, constantly lacks food, he is unlikely to be in dire need of love. However, a person overwhelmed with love experiences still needs food, and regularly (even if romance novels say otherwise). By satiety, Maslow meant not only the absence of food shortages, but also a sufficient amount of water, oxygen, sleep and sex.

The forms in which needs are manifested can be different, there is no single standard. We each have our own motivations and abilities.. Therefore, for example, the need for respect and recognition in different people may manifest itself differently: one needs to become an outstanding politician and win the approval of the majority of his fellow citizens, while for another it is quite enough that his own children recognize his authority. The same widest range within the same need can be observed at any step of the pyramid, even at the first (physiological needs).

Abraham Maslow recognized that people have many different needs, but also believed that these needs can be divided into five main categories:

There is also a more detailed classification. There are seven main priority levels in the system:

1. (lower) Physiological needs: hunger, thirst, sex drive, etc.
2. Need for security: feeling confident, getting rid of fear and failure.
3. The need for belonging and love.
4. The need for respect: achievement of success, approval, recognition.
5. Cognitive needs: to know, to be able, to explore.
6. Aesthetic needs: harmony, order, beauty.
7. (higher) The need for self-actualization: the realization of one's goals, abilities, the development of one's own personality.

As the lower needs are satisfied, the needs of a higher level become more and more urgent, but this does not mean at all that the place of the previous need is occupied by a new one only when the former is fully satisfied. Also, the needs are not in an inseparable sequence and do not have fixed positions, as shown in the diagram. This pattern takes place as the most stable, but for different people the mutual arrangement of needs may vary.

You can also pay attention to some overlap with Gumilyov's theory about the development of cultural needs with an increase in the level of civilization and their rapid degradation (for example, when the base of Maslow's pyramid, that is, physiological or protective needs, is violated).

Criticism

The need hierarchy theory, despite its popularity, is not supported and has low validity (Hall and Nougaim, 1968; lawler and Suttle, 1972)

When Hall and Nougaim were doing their research, Maslow wrote them a letter in which he noted that it was important to consider the satisfaction of needs depending on the age group of the subjects. "Lucky" from the point of view of Maslow satisfy the needs for safety and physiology in childhood, the need for belonging and love - in adolescence, etc. The need for self-actualization is satisfied by the age of 50 in the "lucky". That is why you need to take into account the age structure.

The main problem in testing hierarchy theory is that there is no reliable quantitative measure of the satisfaction of human needs. The second problem of the theory is related to the division of needs into a hierarchy, their sequence. Maslow himself pointed out that the order in the hierarchy can change. However, the theory cannot explain why some needs continue to be motivators even after they have been satisfied.

Since Maslow studied the biographies of only those creative personalities who, in his opinion, were successful (“lucky ones”), Richard Wagner, a great composer, devoid of almost all personality traits valued by Maslow, fell out of the studied personalities. The scientist was interested in unusually active and healthy people, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln and Albert Einstein. This, of course, imposes inevitable distortions on Maslow's conclusions, since it was not clear from his research how the "pyramid of needs" of most people is arranged. Also, Maslow did not conduct empirical research.

Curious facts

• Maslow claimed that no more than 2% of people reach the "stage of self-actualization".
• Maslow's seminal paper does not include a picture of a pyramid

Conclusion

From the author. Nevertheless, Maslow's pyramid explains many processes in people's lives and one of the factors why people do not build their business in an MLM company or remain below the poverty line is not the desire to develop and work on themselves. A dream is needed, with a dream one must go to bed and wake up in the morning, then there will be strength and opportunities to achieve success, growth as a person and harmony with oneself and the world around.

For those people who dream and strive to be better, achieve heights in their careers, receive additional income and fulfill themselves, our educational website and my training are open. , write or call, I will be happy to answer your questions.

One of the first behaviorists (from the English behavior - behavior - one of the directions in American psychology that arose at the beginning of the 20th century, which, unlike other theories, considers behavior, and not consciousness or thinking, to be the subject of psychology. (Prim teach ed.)), from whose writings leaders learned about the complexity of human needs and their impact on motivation, was Abraham Maslow. Creating his theory of motivation in the 40s, Maslow recognized that people have many different needs, but also believed that these needs can be divided into five main categories. This idea was elaborated in detail by his contemporary Harvard psychologist Murray.

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

2. Needs for security and confidence in the future include the need for protection from physical and psychological dangers from the outside world and the confidence that physiological needs will be met 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 secure job with good retirement prospects.

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

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

5. Needs of self-expression - the need to realize their potential and grow as a person.

MOTIVATION AND HIERARCHY OF NEEDS. According to Maslow's theory, all these needs can be arranged in the form strict hierarchical structure shown in fig. 13.2. By this he wanted to show that the needs of the lower levels require satisfaction and, therefore, affect human behavior before the needs of higher levels begin to affect motivation. At each particular moment in time, a person will strive to satisfy the need that is more important or strong for him. Before the next level need becomes the most powerful determinant of human behavior, the lower level need must be satisfied. Here is what psychologists Calvin Hall and Gardner Lindsay say in their interpretation of Maslow's theory:

Rice. 13.2 . Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

“When the most powerful and priority needs are satisfied, the needs that follow them in the hierarchy arise and require satisfaction. When these needs are satisfied, there is a transition to the next step of the ladder of factors that determine human behavior.

Since with the development of a person as a person his potentialities expand, the need for self-expression can never be fully satisfied. Therefore, the process of motivating behavior through needs is endless.

A person who is hungry will first try to find food and only after eating will he try to build a shelter. Living in comfort and security, a person will first be motivated to activity by the need for social contacts, and then will begin to actively seek respect from others. Only after a person feels inner satisfaction and respect from others, his most important needs will begin to grow in accordance with his potential. But if the situation changes radically, then the most important needs can change dramatically. How quickly and strongly the higher needs can go down the hierarchical ladder and how strong the needs of the lowest levels can be - shows the behavior of the survivors of the Andean plane crash in 1975 - in order to survive, these quite normal people were forced to eat their dead comrades.

In order for the next, higher level of the hierarchy of needs to begin to influence human behavior, it is not necessary to satisfy the need of a lower level completely. Thus, hierarchical levels are not discrete steps. For example, people usually start looking for their place in some community long before their security needs are provided or their physiological needs are completely satisfied. This thesis may well be illustrated by the great importance which rituals and social intercourse have for the primitive cultures of the Amazon jungle and parts of Africa, though hunger and danger are always present there.

In other words, although at the moment one of the needs may dominate, the activity of a person is stimulated not only by it. Moreover, Maslow notes:

“Until now, we have said that the hierarchical levels of needs have a fixed order, but in fact this hierarchy is far from being as “rigid” as we thought. It is true that for most of the people we have worked with, their basic needs are roughly in the order we have indicated. However, there were a number of exceptions. There are people for whom, for example, self-respect is more important than love.”

USING THE THEORY OF MASLOW IN MANAGEMENT. Maslow's theory has made an extremely important contribution to understanding what underlies people's desire to work. Managers of various ranks began to understand that the motivation of people is determined by a wide range of their needs. In order to motivate a particular person, the manager must enable him to satisfy his most important needs through a course of action that contributes to the achievement of the goals of the entire organization. Not so long ago, managers could motivate subordinates almost exclusively with economic incentives, since people's behavior was determined mainly by their needs at lower levels. Today the situation has changed. Thanks to the higher wages and social benefits won through union struggles and government regulations (such as the Employee Health and Safety Act of 1970), even people at the bottom of the organization's hierarchy are at relatively high levels. Maslow's hierarchy. As Terence Mitchell notes:

“In our society, physiological needs and the need for safety play a relatively minor role for most people. Only the really disenfranchised and the poorest sections of the population are guided by these needs of the lower levels. This implies an obvious conclusion for theorists of control systems that the needs of higher levels can serve as better motivating factors than the needs of lower levels. This fact is confirmed by researchers who conducted surveys of employees about the motives of their activities.

As a result, we can conclude that if you are a leader, then you need to carefully observe your subordinates in order to decide what active needs drive them. Since these needs change over time, it is impossible to expect that the motivation that worked once will work effectively all the time. In table. 13.1. lists in summary form some of the ways in which managers can meet the needs of higher levels in their subordinates during the labor process.

HIERARCHY OF NEEDS WHEN WORKING IN A MULTINATIONAL EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT. Managers operating in the international arena, as well as their counterparts operating within any country, must provide opportunities to meet the needs of employees. Since the relative importance of needs is defined differently in different countries, the leaders of organizations operating at the international level must be aware of these differences and take them into account.

One fairly comprehensive study, based on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, compared five different groups of leaders. These groups were formed on a geographical basis: 1) heads of British and American firms; 2) Japanese leaders; 3) heads of companies from northern and central European countries (Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway); 4) heads of firms from southern and western European countries (Spain, France, Belgium, Italy); 5) heads of firms in developing countries (Argentina, Chile, India). One of the results of this study was that leaders from developing countries placed more importance on all the needs of Maslow's hierarchy and the degree to which they were met than did leaders from any other countries. Leaders from developing and southwestern European countries are most eager to meet social needs. This indicates the importance of using rewards such as status enhancement, social respect, and recognition of merit when working with them. A more recent study on the same subject, based on survey results and focusing on the needs of people in more than 40 countries, concludes that the motivation theories developed by American scientists are based on the implicit assumption that the American system of cultural values ​​and ideals also exists abroad. However, this is not true.

Table 13.1. Methods for meeting the needs of higher levels

Unfortunately, systematic studies of motivation at the international level have not been conducted. However, it can be concluded that leaders operating at the international level must constantly consider, understand and be attentive to the cultural differences of the needs of the people with whom they interact. Managers must avoid any obvious preference for employees of one nationality over another. You can't rely on the people you manage abroad to have the same needs as you have in your own country. What to do? You have to ensure that the needs of the people you manage are met if they work effectively. In example 13.2. cases of dissatisfaction with work in an international firm are considered.

CRITIQUE OF THE THEORY OF MASLOW. Although Maslow's theory of human needs seemed to provide managers with a very useful description of the motivation process, subsequent experimental studies have not fully confirmed it. Of course, in principle, people can be attributed to one or another fairly broad category, characterized by some need of a higher or lower level, but a clear five-level hierarchical structure of needs according to Maslow, apparently, simply does not exist. The concept of the most important needs has not received full confirmation either. The satisfaction of any one need does not automatically activate the needs of the next level as a factor in motivating human activity.

EXAMPLE 13.2.

Job dissatisfaction

If the company's management is thinking of changing the scope of its marketing program in the world markets, then immediately proceed to a special transitional stage. Disputes about the extent of the gap between the existing and desired position of the firm, the speed with which this gap must be closed, often lead to conflict between the headquarters of the firm and its regional foreign branches. Such conflicts most often arise in firms where the reasons for changing the marketing program are not clear or obvious, and where regional office managers enjoy a high degree of autonomy. Unpleasant consequences can arise in both cases. Due to the fact that the company"Black & Decker dominated the European market for household appliances, many of its managers and representatives in various countries failed to feel the need for a tightly centralized global marketing program in response to competition from Japanese manufacturers. As a result, the president of the company was forced to remove some of the heads of the European departments of the company of a fairly high rank. In 1982, the company« Parker Pan, under the influence of competition and deteriorating financial positions, has more than halved the number of plants worldwide and the number of types of products manufactured. This was supposed to lead to the preservation of production costs. The leaders of Parker's overseas offices embraced these changes, but when they were forced to implement programs to standardize advertising and packaging, they could not be shaken. In 1985 « Parker finished its broadcast global marketing program. Several senior executives of the firm were forced to leave the company.

If the management of the firm is not very careful, and the movement towards global marketing is too fast, then this can have negative consequences. First, the firm's overseas affiliates who join the firm because of its obvious desire to provide local freedom and tailor products to local conditions may feel frustrated. The failure of the global marketing program may lead to the fact that the importance of the work of local leaders in individual countries will decrease. Secondly, frustration may lead to a resurgence of the old venal relationships and collusion between regional office leaders and headquarters representatives. For example, some heads of regional offices may try to bargain on the speed with which they implement regular programs to reduce operating expenses. In addition, by competing for resources and a degree of autonomy, local office leaders may pay too much attention to secondary figures (errand boys) from headquarters. One way or another, capable leaders can leave, and less competent and lack of initiative people will come in their place.