Directorate of distance education master of business administration

Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory
 
According to this most commonly known classical theory popular 
since the mid-1950s, human needs can be arranged into five levels such as 
basic or physiological needs including food, water and air, safety needs 
such as a feeling of physical or economic security and freedom from 

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dangers, which might include housing and job tenure, social needs such 
as belongingness, love and affection, and esteem needs such as respect, 
recognition and reward. Maslow separated the five needs by grouping 
the first two into lower level and the remaining three into higher level. 
The differentiation between the two orders was made on the premise 
that higher-order needs are satisfied internally, whereas lower-order 
needs are predominantly satisfied externally. 
The final stage of the hierarchy is the attainment of self-
actualization, which implies achieving one’s fullest potential (attaining a 
state of what one is capable of becoming) and self-fulfillment. Abraham 
Maslow surmised that until a person’s more basic needs are fulfilled, 
he or she will not strive to meet higher order needs.  As each need is 
substantially satisfied, the next need becomes dominant. The needs 
when translated into an organizational context would mean wages, job-
security, recognition, confidence and pride of excellence.