Directorate of distance education master of business administration

Alderfer’s Existence, Relatedness and Growth Theory
 
Clayton Alderfer through his ERG theory, reformulated Maslow’s 
theory by reducing the five level of needs into three namely Existence, 
Relatedness and Growth. Physiological and Security needs were combined 
under the label Existence, while love need was renamed relatedness 
and self-esteem and self-actualization correspond to the growth needs.  
While the ERG theory accepted the usual movement from lower order to 
higher order needs, it also emphasizes the possibility of more than one 
need arising at a given time. Secondly, it states that if a higher order need 
is not satisfied, an employee may regress into the pursuit of lower order 
need.  
Alderfer suggested more of a continuum of needs than hierarchical 
levels of two factors of needs. Unlike Maslow and Herzberg, Alderfer did 
not contend that a lower level need has to be fulfilled before a higher-
level need becomes motivating. According to the descriptions of the ERG 
theory, a person’s family background, upbringing or cultural atmosphere 
may dictate that the relatedness needs will take primacy over unfulfilled 
survival needs. Thus, there could be persons with genius qualities 
starving. Similarly in some cases the more the growth needs are satisfied, 
the more they will increase in intensity. 

---

215