Perhaps the most widely accepted description of human needs is the hierarchy of needs concept developed by Abraham Maslow.15 Maslow states that human beings possess the five basic needs described here and theorizes that these five basic needs can be arranged in a hierarchy of importance—the order in which individuals generally strive to satisfy them.16 The needs and their relative positions in the hierarchy of importance are shown in Figure 14.4.

• The physiological need relates to the normal functioning of the body. Physiological needs include the desires for water, food, rest, sex, and air. Until these needs are met, a significant portion of an individual’s behavior will be aimed at satisfying them. Once the needs are satisfied, however, behavior is aimed at satisfying the needs on the next level of Maslow’s hierarchy.

• The security or safety need relates to an individual’s desire to be free from harm, including both bodily and economic disaster.

  Traditionally, management has best helped employees satisfy their physiological and security needs by providing adequate wages or salaries, which employees use to purchase such things as food and housing.

• The social need includes the desire for love, companionship, and friendship. Social needs reflect a person’s desire to be accepted by others. As they are satisfied, behavior shifts to satisfying esteem needs.

• The esteem need is concerned with the desire for respect. Esteem needs are generally divided into two categories: self-respect and respect from others. Once esteem needs are satisfied, the individual moves to the pinnacle of the hierarchy and emphasizes satisfying self-actualization needs.

• The self-actualization need refers to the desire to maximize whatever potential an individual possesses. For example, in the nonprofit setting of a public high school, a principal who seeks to satisfy self-actualization needs would strive to become the best principal possible. Self-actualization needs occupy the highest level of Maslow’s hierarchy.17

The traditional concerns about Maslow’s hierarchy are that it has no research base, that it may not accurately reflect basic human needs, and that it is questionable whether human needs can be neatly arranged in such a hierarchy. Nevertheless, Maslow’s hierarchy is probably the most popular conceptualization of human needs to date, and it continues to be positively discussed in management literature.18 Still, the concerns expressed about it should remind managers to look upon Maslow’s hierarchy more as a subjective statement than as an objective description of human needs.19

Clayton Alderfer responded to some of the criticisms of Maslow’s work by conducting his own study of human needs.20 He identified three basic categories of needs:

1. Existence need—the need for physical well-being

2. Relatedness need—the need for satisfying interpersonal relationships

3. Growth need—the need for continuing personal growth and development

The first letters of these three needs form the acronym ERG, which is how the theory is now known.

Alderfer’s ERG theory is similar to Maslow’s theory except in three major respects. First, Alderfer identified only three orders of human needs, compared to Maslow’s five orders. Second, in contrast to Maslow, Alderfer found that people sometimes activate their higher-level needs before they have completely satisfied all of their lower-level needs. Third, Alderfer concluded that movement in his hierarchy of human needs is not always upward. For instance—and this is reflected in his frustration-regression principle—he found that a worker frustrated by his failure to satisfy an upper-level need might regress by trying to fulfill an already satisfied lower-level need.

Alderfer’s work, in conjunction with Maslow’s, has implications for management. Employees frustrated by work that fails to provide opportunities for growth or development on the job might concentrate their energies on trying to make more money, thus regressing to a lower level of needs. To counteract such regression, management might use job enrichment strategies designed to help people meet their higher-order needs.

Argyris’s maturity-immaturity continuum also furnishes insights into human needs.22 This continuum concept focuses on the personal and natural development of people to explain human needs. According to Chris Argyris, as people naturally progress from immaturity to maturity, they move:

1. From a state of passivity as an infant to a state of increasing activity as an adult

2. From a state of dependence on others as an infant to a state of relative independence as an adult

3. From being capable of behaving in only a few ways as an infant to being capable of behaving in many different ways as an adult

4. From having erratic, casual, shallow, and quickly dropped interests as an infant to having deeper, more lasting interests as an adult

5. From having a short-time perspective as an infant to having a much longer-time perspective as an adult

6. From being in a subordinate position as an infant to aspiring to occupy an equal or superordinate position as an adult

7. From a lack of self-awareness as an infant to awareness and control over self as an adult

According to Argyris’s continuum, then, as individuals mature, they have increasing needs for more activity, enjoy a state of relative independence, behave in many different ways, have deeper and more lasting interests, are capable of considering a relatively long-time perspective, occupy an equal position vis-à-vis other mature individuals, and have more awareness of themselves and control over their own destinies. Note that, unlike Maslow’s needs, Argyris’s needs are not arranged in a hierarchy. Like Maslow’s hierarchy, however, Argyris’s continuum is primarily a subjective explanation of human needs.

Another theory about human needs, called McClelland’s acquired needs theory, focuses on the needs that people acquire through their life experiences. This theory, formulated by David C. McClelland in the 1960s, emphasizes three of the many needs human beings develop in their lifetimes:

1. Need for achievement (nAch)—the desire to do something better or more efficiently than it has ever been done before

2. Need for power (nPower)—the desire to control, influence, or be responsible for others

3. Need for affiliation (nAff)—the desire to maintain close, friendly, personal relationships

  The individual’s early life experiences determine which of these needs will be highly developed and therefore will dominate the personality.

Bob Crane, entrepreneurial founder of C. Crane, is an example of an individual motivated by the need for achievement. Crane’s dream is to save the world energy, and he works to achieve that dream by inventing energy-saving devices that are better and more efficient than any previous devices. His latest product, the GeoBulb, is an LED light bulb that uses half the energy of a fluorescent bulb, contains no lead or mercury, and will last 30,000 hours or up to 10 years. Crane’s not in it for the money. As he puts it, “It’s 100% altruistic, and we hope that we’ll get paid in time.” Although the company hasn’t made Crane a wealthy man, he says working toward his goal makes him happy.”23

McClelland’s studies of these three acquired human needs have significant implications for management.