Good day to all! We have already talked about human self-development, the importance of timely recognition and satisfaction of needs, and today I want to talk in more detail about what it is, Maslow's pyramid of human needs. After all, it has not lost its relevance in the modern world and allows you to look, from the side of psychology, at your life values.

What are needs?

Needs activate the human body so that it gathers all its resources and starts looking for ways to satisfy those needs that are exacerbated. Thanks to the ability to recognize and implement them, we develop, achieve success and live in the end. Abraham Maslow, a psychologist and scientist, once decided to outline the basic needs of a person and structured them, placing them in order in the form of a pyramid.

It has 7 levels, which are arranged in a hierarchy, that is, until we satisfy the lowest level, the rest will not be relevant to us, and, in principle, are not available for achievement.

This is a classification of the basic needs of each person, which depend on his lifestyle and value system, because for someone it may seem sufficient only to realize the most basic needs of the lower level, and a person will not need to move on. And someone tries to reach the peaks and does not stop, gradually stepping over each step.

Maslow pyramid

To begin with, to make it clearer, I will provide you with a drawing for study, in which you will clearly see every step that a person seeks to step over, aimed at achieving his goals:

Classification

1.Physiology

First of all, every person has a need for food, water, health and sex. Without their satisfaction, the life of absolutely any creature on the planet is simply impossible. And even more so the implementation of other goals. After all, when one is tormented by thirst or hunger, a person does not have thoughts about recognition among other people or about going to the theater, and even less about finding his own meaning in life. Have you ever been so hungry that nothing was of value or interest? By the way, it happens that the philosophy of the future changes.

For example, when a person is constantly malnourished, all his resources and energy are directed only to satisfy hunger, then he has fantasies that if he got to the place where there is always food, then he would be the happiest person ... But then, if suddenly this happens, then he has another need that he seeks to realize, and so constantly, achieving something, other goals appear that we are trying to conquer.

You can read more about the physiological needs of a person.

2.Safety

When we are full and not thirsty, the issue of safety becomes relevant. That is, about comfort, whether there is where to sleep, so that it is warm and cozy. And each person has their own idea of ​​comfort and confidence in the future. After all, it is enough for someone to have at least some kind of roof over their heads, but someone also needs to install security for greater peace of mind.

When there is a space in which we can relax and breathe out, then we can realize our other desires as well, without getting stuck in the feeling of anxiety and anticipation of danger. For example, the same babies, only after satisfying their hunger, already need an adult, his protection. For him to hold him in his arms, rocking him, and only feeling that they are safe and not alone, they relax and fall asleep.

3 love and belonging

A very important aspect when there is a desire to communicate, meet new people, feel interest in oneself and experience it in relation to others. It is important to show love and receive it, take care of your partner and feel their attention and support. We are social beings, and without a sense of belonging to something, it is very difficult to survive. This can be a family, an interest group, a professional community. It provides a resource when we know where we came from and who we can rely on.

It is difficult for one in the world to survive, and when there is an understanding that I belong to some part of society, it becomes much easier. It's like the roots of a tree. For example, have you ever met your fellow countryman in another country or city and felt unspeakable joy, as if you had known him all your life?

4.Recognition

Just when we discover our belonging, the question of recognition arises. For example, in a professional circle, when they call me a colleague, it means that they recognize me. And then you want to be respected, to notice talents and skills, to be assessed as a professional. And the more this desire, the more ambitions a person has, he feels self-confidence and achieves success.

It is important to notice this desire in ourselves, because it happens that we push somewhere deep in ourselves the need for recognition for various reasons, for example, believing that it is shameful or scary, to be active and bright. And then this unfulfilled desire, to be recognized, turns into self-destruction when depression or withdrawal into any kind of addiction occurs. After all, there is a lot of energy in it, which stops and is not realized, and, not finding a way out, simply destroys the personality and health.

You can learn more about the social needs of a person.

5.Self-realization

It becomes important to reach heights, realize your potential and develop your spiritual level. The hierarchy of aspirations reaches the point when just professional activity does not satisfy, I want to add more creative. For example, going to the theater, traveling, dancing ... At this stage, a person asks about the meaning of his existence and, in general, about the meaning of being. A lot of interest arises in the surrounding reality, in the quality of one's life. It is during this period that a reassessment of values ​​and beliefs takes place.

This is an abbreviated version of the classification, when the first 5 steps are the basic needs. The remaining 2 are needed by people for whom self-realization and advancement are very important, when the previous desires for the most part found their energy outlet.

6.Aesthetics

A personality in search of achieving inner harmony, it is aimed at contemplating this world, its beauty and amazing manifestations. Physical health and endurance of the body becomes important. Thus, harmony in appearance is also achieved. The first positions in the value system are given to art, from which a person receives aesthetic pleasure.

7.Self-actualization

Achieving your goals, plans, when the desire to achieve heights prevails in a person, and he does not stop there. Constantly strives for improvement and development. Such a person, as they say, has comprehended Zen, because he understands the structure of the world, he is aware and knows why, how and for what he does something, he knows how to recognize his feelings, and accepts others as they are. Such a person finds his way, this amazing state, when a person's hobby brings him a good income, because he recognized his natural inclinations and was able to unleash his potential.

Conclusion

Abraham Maslow's theory of the hierarchy of human needs is relevant to this day. In addition, it is used not only in psychology, but also in management. Because time passes, technologies do not stand still, every day there are some discoveries, and despite this all, the needs of humanity remain the same, there is only a change in the ways of their implementation.

2. SAFETY AS A FIRST NEED

The concept of safety is associated with the primary sources (basic needs) of human life.

Scientists emphasize that the needs of a higher level arise after the needs of the lower ones are satisfied.

According to Maslow, “human needs are arranged in a hierarchy. In other words, the appearance of one need is usually preceded by the satisfaction of another, more urgent one. Man is an animal constantly experiencing certain desires. "

Higher needs contribute to a more complete satisfaction of the need for security.

The need for security ranks first among those that distinguish a person from the rest of the living world:

1. Physiological needs (satisfying hunger, thirst, procreation ...), 2. The need for security,

3. The need for love and social connections, 4. The need for respect, approval and recognition of society,

5. The need for self-actualization, for personality development, incl. spiritual.

Consequently, all other needs that distinguish a person arise only after the satisfaction of the need for security.

A very important remark was made by the “master of psychology” A. Maslow: “Just as a well-fed person does not feel hungry, the one who is safe does not feel the threat ... emergencies such as war, illness, natural disasters, an increase in crime, disorganization of society ... ”.

By the need for security, we must understand the need to maintain and prolong the sustainable satisfaction of lower needs.

This circumstance creates a most dangerous situation today: modern global problems, which have not been introduced to the consciousness of every inhabitant of the Earth, pose a terrible threat in terms of possible consequences - like invisible radiation.

When only particular tasks of ensuring security are constantly in the center of attention, the population of the planet does not realize the entire extremeness of the onset of the era of the global crisis. Higher needs not only arise after the satisfaction of the need for security, but also serve to satisfy it more fully.

Let us explain. Personality, i.e. a human individual with personal characteristics, satisfies his need for security by actions to protect himself from the threats he finds, both instinctive and reasonable. But not only. To improve their safety, people unite in communities. It does not require special proof that together it is safer.

So: the desire for unification is laid down by the next human need - the need for social connections.

With the unification of people in a community, a new concern arises - ensuring the safety of this community. The challenge of simultaneously ensuring security for both the community and each of its members carries with it a kernel of contradiction. In a number of critical cases, it is impossible to simultaneously ensure the safety of both. Then a dramatic situation arises - you need to sacrifice either one or the other.

A community turns out to be viable only if the decisive majority of its members are ready to put the interests of the community above the individual, otherwise the community will disintegrate or even perish at the first critical situation. selfish interests.

And so: the conflict of individual and public interests is resolved by the next natural need of each person - the need for respect. With its help, a special mechanism for transforming public interests into personal interests arises in the community.

Such a mechanism is the opinion of others, customs and traditions, according to which a member of the community, who took risks with himself and succeeded in acting for the good of the community, achieves respect and receives certain privileges - which serves his individual, selfish interests.

A developed society has added laws, according to which privileges are approved by the state, to the customs and traditions of respect and privileges for “selfless” citizens. But, as it turns out, respect for the people around and government structures is not enough for the reliability of this mechanism. The opinions of others and formal laws should be supported by a certain ideology with the introduction of Faith in certain ideals into the minds of people.

History has shown that religion has proven to be the most effective ideology. Not a single "civil" society, built on the best codes of laws, is not able to fully control the implementation of these laws by its citizens.

The invincible principle "one's own shirt is closer to the body" entails the mind of every member of society to use all kinds of loopholes to satisfy their selfish interests, including against the interests of society. This situation makes any pyramid of public (state) controllers-overseers for the implementation of laws ineffective, since each of these overseers is "also a person", guided primarily by his own selfish interests.

Religion, faith in the Almighty, and the morality created by religious canons put the "overseer" in the form of conscience in the head of every believer.

He is responsible for his actions, for their compliance with moral social standards directly before the Almighty, who cannot be deceived. We can say that a believer needs respect not only from people who can be deceived ("not caught is not a thief"). It turns out that the need for respect following the need for social connections, serving to strengthen the unification of people, also “works” for security. Finally, the highest human need - the need for development - also contributes to the fullest satisfaction of the need for security.

Human development allows him to adapt to the natural development of the environment, as part of a constantly changing nature. And the spiritual development inherent only to a person has the ultimate goal of forming in the consciousness of a person "higher", "spiritual" values ​​- and these always turn out to be social values. Thus, it turns out that the need for security serves as a “root” from which the rest of the basic needs “grow” and “serve”. Therefore, the need for security deserves to be called not only the first among the basic needs of a person that distinguish him from the rest of the world, but also the root one. Consequently, safety is the primary source of human activity and is the ultimate goal in all spheres of his life. The foregoing also allows us to assert that safety is the primary source of human activity and is the ultimate goal in all spheres of his life.

The need for longevity.

The original, laid down by nature, human life expectancy is shortened by the implementation of threats and dangers from the environment.

Therefore, the actual life span, being dependent on the natural species (biological) value, but different from it, characterizes the level of safety. At the same time, for a person, whose life is always inextricably linked with the life of his community, there are three indicators:

· Biological life expectancy of a person in general, · individual life expectancy related to a specific person, · average life expectancy in a given community.

Biological life expectancy serves as a baseline indicator. For nature, which created man and provided for this duration, the performance of certain functions and the reproduction of the human race are important, so that there is someone to perform these functions.

A person must grow to an adult state and produce offspring, and then fulfill his function and raise offspring to an adult state.

After that, nature does not need this individual, since both the functions and reproduction of the genus will be carried out by its descendants. Taking 25 years for the age of the adult state of a person, we get 25 + 25 = 50. If we put a margin on the scatter of the received data, then we will roughly get a biological life expectancy of 75-100 years.

"Additional" years can be considered as the time allotted by nature (and nature?) For the free creative activity of the individual for the benefit of society

A significant part of people do not live to the biological limit.

Their individual life expectancy is shortened by insecurity, which depends primarily on their own behavior in everyday life and in emerging dangerous situations.

A person who neglects the principles of a healthy lifestyle, who does not know how to foresee, avoid dangers, and, if necessary, act rationally, cannot hope for a long life.

However, the level of security of an individual, measured by an individual's life expectancy, depends not only on his behavior, but also on the level of security in a given community.

In general, if we bear in mind the average life expectancy of a person on the planet, the level of human security has been constantly increasing until now.

Safety as a result of life

Security is ensured by: a) protection from immediate threats; b) preventing potential hazards by transforming the environment;

c) the effectiveness of prevention determines the level of safety of the society, the effectiveness of protection allows to realize (or not to realize) the level of safety achieved by the society. A person's actions, thanks to his mind, are distinguished by predicting the development of events, assessing the consequences of their actions, analyzing the causes of dangers, choosing the most effective option for actions to ensure their safety.

Life activities aimed at ensuring safety are potentially dangerous; Hazards from livelihoods have traditionally been adjusted to acceptable levels through trial and error.

Axiom:"Human life activity is the ultimate goal of ensuring his fundamental need for safety, however, by eliminating or reducing the original hazard (threat), it contributes to the emergence of a new hazard."

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

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

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 100% “closed” before there is a desire to be realized at the next level.

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

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

Maslow 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 not satisfied to a certain extent, a person will not have higher aspirations.

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

Physiological needs

First of all, it is the need for food, air, water and adequate amount of sleep. Naturally, without this, a person will simply die. Maslow included the need for sexual intercourse in the same category. These aspirations make us related 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 job).

Need for belonging and love

This is the desire to be part of a certain social group, to take their place in it, which is accepted by the rest of the members of this community. The need for love is self-explanatory.

The need for respect and recognition

This is 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 plunge into science, religion, esotericism, to try to understand this world.

The need for aesthetics and harmony

It is understood that at this level the personality strives 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 their abilities and their maximum implementation. A person at this stage is mainly engaged in creative activity, actively develops 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. This is how our hobbies often help satisfy the urge to belong to a certain community.

Thus, they go through another step. Around we see many examples of people who have not reached the 4th level of the pyramid and therefore experience some mental discomfort.

However, not everything is so smooth. It is easy to find examples that do not fit this theory. The easiest way to find them is in history. For example, the craving for knowledge in young Charles Darwin appeared during a very dangerous voyage, and not in a calm and well-fed home environment.

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

Application of Maslow's pyramid

Yet Maslow's theory has found its way into 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 determine what you really want and what you really need to achieve.

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

The question of motivation is perhaps the most important in all of personology. Maslow (1968, 1987) believed that people are motivated to pursue personal goals, which makes their life meaningful and meaningful. Really, motivational processes are the core of the humanistic theory of personality. Maslow described man as a "willing being" who rarely reaches a state of complete, complete satisfaction. The complete absence of desires and needs, when (and if) it exists, is short-lived at best. If one need is satisfied, another comes to the surface and directs the person's attention and efforts. When a person satisfies her, another one noisily demands satisfaction. Human life is characterized by the fact that people almost always want something.

Maslow suggested that all human needs congenital, or instinctoid and that they are organized in a hierarchical system of priority or dominance. In fig. 10-1 schematically presents this concept of the hierarchy of needs for human motivation. Needs in order of priority:

Physiological needs;

Security and protection needs;

Needs of belonging and love;

Self-esteem needs;

The needs of self-actualization, or the needs of personal improvement.

Rice. 10-1. Schematic representation of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

This scheme is based on the assumption that the dominant needs located at the bottom must be more or less satisfied before a person can be aware of the presence and be motivated by the needs located at the top. Consequently, needs of one type must be fully satisfied before another, located above, the need arises and becomes active. Satisfaction of the needs located at the bottom of the hierarchy makes it possible to realize the needs located higher in the hierarchy and their participation in motivation. Thus, physiological needs must be sufficiently met before safety needs arise; physiological needs and needs for safety and protection must be satisfied to some extent before they arise and require satisfaction of the need for belonging and love. According to Maslow, this sequential arrangement of basic needs in a hierarchy is the main principle underlying the organization of human motivation. He proceeded from the fact that the hierarchy of needs applies to all people and that the higher a person can rise in this hierarchy, the more individuality, human qualities and mental health he will demonstrate.

Maslow admitted that there could be exceptions to this hierarchical arrangement of motives. He recognized that some creative people can develop and express their talent, despite serious difficulties and social problems. There are also people whose values ​​and ideals are so strong that they are willing to endure hunger and thirst, or even die, rather than abandon them. For example, civic and political activists in South Africa, the Baltic States and Eastern European countries continue their struggle despite fatigue, imprisonment, physical deprivation and the threat of death. A hunger strike organized by hundreds of Chinese students in Tiananmen Square is another example. Finally, Maslow suggested that some people can create their own hierarchy of needs due to the peculiarities of their biography. For example, people may prioritize the needs of respect over the needs of love and belonging. Such people are more interested in prestige and promotion, rather than intimate relationships or family. In general, however, the lower the need for hierarchy is, the stronger and more prioritized it is.

A key point in Maslow's concept of a hierarchy of needs is that needs are never all-or-nothing satisfied. Needs overlap, and a person can be simultaneously motivated at two or more levels of needs. Maslow made the assumption that the average person satisfies his needs approximately in the following degree: 85% - physiological, 70% - safety and protection, 50% - love and belonging, 40% - self-esteem, and 10% - self-actualization (Maslow, 1970). In addition, the needs that appear in the hierarchy arise gradually. People not only satisfy one need after another, but at the same time partially satisfy and partially do not satisfy them. It should also be noted that no matter how high a person has advanced in the hierarchy of needs: if the needs of a lower level are no longer satisfied, the person will return to this level and remain there until these needs are sufficiently satisfied.

Now let's look at Maslow's categories of needs and find out what each includes.

None of the existing theories of motivation has such an impact on the thinking of leaders as the theory of needs, developed by the leading specialist in motivation, Abraham Maslow.

Maslow's theory allows managers to more fully understand the aspirations and motives of employee behavior. Maslow has shown that people are motivated by a wide range of needs. If earlier managers motivated subordinates almost exclusively only by economic incentives, since people's behavior was determined mainly by their needs of lower levels, then thanks to Maslow's theory it became obvious that there are also non-material incentives that make employees do what the organization needs.

Maslow identified five main groups of human needs, which are in a dynamic relationship and form a hierarchy (Figure 1). This can be depicted in the form of ascending steps.

Scheme 1. Hierarchy of human motivation needs in order of priority

The theory of the hierarchy of human needs is based on a regularity: when the needs of one level are satisfied, the need for the next, higher level arises. A satisfied need ceases to motivate.

People need to satisfy needs in a certain order - when one group is satisfied, another comes to the fore.

A person rarely achieves a state of complete satisfaction; throughout his life he desires something.

It is necessary to consider in more detail the motivational groups.

2.1. Physiological needs

The needs of this group consist of basic, primary human needs, sometimes even unconscious ones. They are sometimes referred to as biological needs. These are human needs for food, water, warmth, sleep, rest, clothing, shelter and the like, necessary for the survival of the body, maintenance and continuation of life. With regard to the working environment, they manifest themselves as a need for wages, favorable working conditions, vacation, etc.

High earnings ensure a decent existence, for example, the opportunity to live in a comfortable apartment, eat well, wear necessary, comfortable and fashionable clothes, etc.

To pay for the basic living needs of employees, it is necessary to motivate them with long-term benefits, providing tangible high income and sufficient remuneration, to provide them with breaks from work, weekends and holidays to recuperate.

If a person is dominated only by these needs, displacing everything else, then he is little interested in the meaning and content of labor, but mainly cares about increasing his income and improving working conditions.

If a person is deprived of everything, then he will first of all strive to satisfy his physiological needs. As a result, his views on the future may undergo changes.

A person's dissatisfaction can also indicate a dissatisfaction with needs of a higher level than the level of the need for which the employee is complaining about the dissatisfaction. For example, when a person thinks they need rest, they may actually need safety rather than a weekend or vacation.

2.2. The need for security and confidence in the future

If a person has sufficient physiological needs, then he immediately has other needs related to the safety of the body.

This group? one of the main life motivators, it includes both physical (safety, labor protection, improvement of working conditions, etc.) and economic (social guaranteed employment, social insurance in case of illness and old age) safety. Meeting the needs of this group provides a person with confidence in the future, reflects the desire to protect himself from suffering, danger, disease, injury, loss or deprivation. Confidence in the future is acquired through guaranteed employment, the purchase of an insurance policy, retirement benefits, the ability to keep money in banks, through the creation of insurance potential through obtaining a decent education.

For those who have suffered serious hardships at some significant period in their lives, this need is more urgent than for others.

To address the safety needs of workers, an employer needs to:

1) create safe working conditions for employees;

2) provide workers with protective clothing;

3) install special equipment at workplaces;

4) provide workers with safe tools and devices.

2.3. Social needs (needs of belonging and involvement)

After the physiological and safety needs are met, social needs come to the fore.

In this group? needs for friendship, love, communication and emotional connection with each other:

1) have friends and colleagues, communicate with people who pay attention to us, share our joys and concerns;

2) be a member of the team and feel the support and cohesion of the group.

All this is expressed in the desire for warm relations with people, participation in joint events, the creation of formal and informal groups. If a person is satisfied with social needs, then he considers his work as part of a joint activity. Work is the cementing medium for friendship and camaraderie.

A reduction in social relationships (work contacts and informal friendships) often leads to unpleasant emotional experiences, the emergence of an inferiority complex, the feeling of a social outcast, etc.

To address the social needs of workers, management should:

1) inspire employees to create groups and teams;

2) create conditions and allow the same group of people to work and rest together in order to strengthen and facilitate their relationship;

3) allow all groups to differ from other groups;

4) hold meetings, meetings to exchange professional issues, discuss matters of interest to everyone and contribute to the solution of professional problems.

2.4. Need for respect (recognition and self-affirmation)

When the needs of the three lower levels are satisfied, the person focuses his attention on the satisfaction of personal needs. The needs of this group reflect the desires of people to be strong, competent, confident in themselves and their own position, striving for independence and freedom. This also includes the needs for prestige, reputation, professional and professional growth, team leadership, recognition of personal achievements, and respect from others.

Each person is pleased to feel their indispensability. The art of managing people is the ability to make it clear to each employee that his work is very important for overall success. Good performance without recognition leads the employee to frustration.

In a team, a person feels pleasure from his own role, feels comfortable if he is provided and addressed with well-deserved privileges, which differ from the general system of rewards, for his personal contribution and achievements.

The most objective and stable self-esteem is based on the well-deserved respect of others, not on outward glory, notoriety, or undeserved flattery.

2.5. The need for self-realization (self-expression)

These are spiritual needs. The manifestation of these needs is based on the satisfaction of all previous needs. New dissatisfaction and new anxiety appear until the person does what he likes, otherwise he will not find peace of mind. Spiritual needs find self-expression through creativity, self-realization of the individual.

A person must become what he can be. Each person is surprisingly rich in ideas, but he needs to be convinced of this.

A person's striving for the most complete disclosure of himself, the use of his knowledge and skills, the implementation of his own ideas, the realization of individual talents and abilities, the achievement of everything he wants, to be the best and to feel satisfied with his position is currently indisputable and recognized by everyone. This need for self-expression is the highest of all human needs.

In this group, the best, more individual than others, sides and abilities of people are manifested.

To effectively manage people, you need:

1) make them personally responsible for the fulfillment of production tasks;

2) give them the opportunity to express themselves, to realize themselves, giving them a kind, original work that requires ingenuity, and at the same time to provide more freedom in choosing the means to achieve the goals and solve problems.

People who feel the need for power and influence over others and even peers are motivated by the opportunity to:

1) manage and control;

2) persuade and influence;

3) compete;

4) lead;

5) achieve goals and objectives.

All of this needs to be supported by praise for good work. It is important for people to realize that they work well and are individual in their own way.

Important to leaders is the fact that all human needs are hierarchical.

Low-level needs.

1. Physiological needs.

2. Needs for security and confidence in the future.

3. Social needs (needs of belonging and involvement).

4. The need for respect (recognition and self-affirmation).

The needs of the highest level.

5. The need for self-realization (self-expression).

First, the needs of the lower levels must be satisfied in the first place, and only then can the needs of the higher levels be addressed.

In other words, a hungry person will first seek to find food, and only after eating will he try to build a shelter. A well-fed person can no longer be attracted by bread; bread is of interest only to those who do not have it.

Living in comfort and safety, a person will first be prompted to activity by the need for social contacts, and then will begin to actively strive for respect from others.

Only after a person feels the inner satisfaction and respect of those around him, his most important needs will begin to grow in accordance with his potential capabilities. But if the situation changes radically, then the most important needs can change dramatically. For example, at some point, an employee may sacrifice a physiological need for a need for safety.

When an employee whose lower-level needs have been met is suddenly faced with the threat of job loss, his attention immediately shifts to the lower-level needs. If a manager is trying to motivate employees whose safety needs (second level) are not yet met by offering a social reward (third level), he will not achieve the desired goal-oriented results.

If the employee is currently motivated primarily by the ability to meet security needs, the manager can be confident that once those needs are met, the person will seek to meet their social needs.

A person never experiences a feeling of complete satisfaction of his needs.

If the needs of a lower level are no longer satisfied, the person will return to this level and remain there not until these needs are fully satisfied, but when these needs are sufficiently satisfied.

It should be borne in mind that the needs of the lowest level form the foundation on which the needs of the highest level will be built. Only if the needs of the lower level remain met does the manager have a chance to succeed by motivating workers through the satisfaction of the needs of the higher level. In order for a 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. For example, people usually start looking for their place in a community long before their safety needs are met or their physiological needs are fully satisfied.

The key point in Maslow's concept, the hierarchy of needs, is that needs are never met on an all-or-nothing basis. Needs overlap, and a person can be simultaneously motivated at two or more levels of needs.

Maslow made the assumption that the average person satisfies his needs something like this:

1) physiological - 85%;

2) safety and protection - 70%;

3) love and belonging - 50%;

4) self-esteem - 40%;

5) self-actualization - 10%.

However, this hierarchical structure is not always rigid. Maslow noted that although “the hierarchical levels of needs may have a fixed order, in fact this hierarchy is far from being so 'rigid'. It is true that for most people their basic needs were roughly in the order presented. However, there are a number of exceptions. There are people for whom, for example, self-respect is more important than love.

From the point of view of Maslow, the motives of people's actions are mainly not economic factors, but various needs that can not always be met with the help of money. From this, he concluded that as the needs of workers are met, labor productivity will also increase.

Maslow's theory has made important contributions to understanding what drives workers to work more efficiently. The motivation of people is determined by a wide range of their needs. Individuals with high motivation to rule can be divided into two groups.

The first includes those who strive for power for the sake of power.

The second group includes those who strive for power in order to achieve the solution of group problems. Emphasis is placed on the need for ruling of the second type. Therefore, it is believed that, on the one hand, it is necessary to develop this need among managers, and on the other, to give them the opportunity to satisfy it.

People in whom the need for achievement is highly developed become entrepreneurs more often than others. They enjoy doing things better than the competition, and are willing to take on responsibility and take quite a lot of risk.

An advanced need for power is often associated with reaching high levels in the organizational hierarchy. Those who have this need are more likely to make a career by gradually climbing up the job ladder.

2.6. Self-actualization assessment

The lack of an adequate assessment tool to measure self-actualization initially thwarted any attempt to validate Maslow's core claims. However, the development of the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) has enabled researchers to measure the values ​​and behaviors associated with self-actualization. It is a self-report questionnaire designed to assess various characteristics of self-actualization in accordance with Maslow's concept. It consists of 150 forced choice statements. From each pair of statements, the respondent must choose the one that characterizes him best.

POI consists of two main scales and ten subscales.

The first basic scale measures the extent to which a person is self-directed, and not directed at others in search of values ​​and the meaning of life (characteristics: autonomy, independence, freedom - dependence, need for approval and acceptance).

The second major scale is called “competence over time”. It measures the extent to which a person lives in the present, rather than focusing on the past or the future.

Ten additional subscales are designed to measure important elements of self-actualization: the value of self-actualization, existentiality, emotional reactivity, spontaneity, self-interest, self-activity, acceptance of aggression, the ability to intimate relationships.

POI also has a built-in lie detection scale.

The only major limitation to using a 150-point POI for research purposes is its length. Jones and Crandall (1986) developed a concise self-actualization index. The scale consists of 15 points.

1. I am not ashamed of any of my emotions.

2. I feel like I have to do what others expect of me (N).

3. I believe that people are inherently good and trustworthy.

4. I can get angry with those I love.

5. It is always necessary that others approve of what I am doing (N).

6. I do not accept my weaknesses (N).

7. I may like people whom I may disapprove of.

8. I am afraid of failure (N).

9. I try not to analyze or simplify difficult areas (N).

10. Better to be yourself than popular.

11. In my life there is nothing to which I would especially devote myself (N).

12. I can express my feelings even if it leads to undesirable consequences.

13. I am not obligated to help others (N).

14. I'm tired of inadequacy (N).

15. I am loved because I love.

Respondents respond to each statement using a 4-point scale:

1) disagree;

2) disagree in part;

3) I agree in part;

4) I agree.

An (N) following a statement indicates that the score for that item will be inverse when calculating total values ​​(1 = 4, 2 = 3, 3 = 2, 4 = 1). The higher the overall value, the more self-actualized the respondent is considered.

In studies of several hundred college students, Jones and Crandall found that self-actualization index values ​​were positively correlated with all values ​​of the much longer POI (r = + 0.67) and with measured values ​​for self-esteem and "rational behavior and beliefs." The scale has a certain reliability and is not susceptible to the choice of answers "social desirability". It was also shown that college students who took part in self-confidence training significantly increased the degree of self-actualization, as measured by the scale.

Characteristics of self-actualizing people.

1. More effective perception of reality.

2. Acceptance of yourself, others and nature (accept yourself as they are).

3. Immediacy, simplicity and naturalness.

4. Problem-centered.

5. Independence: the need for privacy.

6. Autonomy: independence from culture and environment.

7. Freshness of perception.

8. Summit, or mystical, experiences (moments of intense excitement or high tension, as well as moments of relaxation, pacification, bliss and tranquility).

9. Public interest.

10. Deep interpersonal relationships.

11. Democratic (no prejudice).

12. Delimitation of means and ends.

13. Philosophical sense of humor (benevolent humor).

14. Creativity (ability to be creative).

15. Resistance to culturing (are in harmony with their culture, while maintaining a certain internal independence from it).

From the point of view of humanistic psychology, only people themselves are responsible for the choices they make. This does not mean that if people are given freedom of choice, they will certainly act in their own interests. Freedom of choice does not guarantee correct choice. The main principle of this direction is the model of a responsible person who freely chooses among the opportunities provided.