Employee Engagement & Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Employee engagement is a workplace mantra.  Managers around the globe are starting to think about how to create a culture where employees thrive and become committed members of the team.  When a company is able to inspire its employees to adopt its goals through engagement, the company will see the benefits in productivity.  One way of doing this is to start with understanding how we as humans are inspired in the first place.  What do we need to become committed and how do employers meet that need?  If you could ask noted psychologist, Abraham Maslow, he might tell you meet their hierarchy of needs.

Who is Maslow and what is his Hierarchy of Needs?

Abraham Maslow proposed in a paper he wrote, “A Theory of Human Motivation” published in Psychological Review in 1943, that people’s motivations are unrelated to rewards or unconscious desires.  He theorized that people are motivated by what has become known as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.  The hierarchy is depicted in a pyramid that contains five levels.  These levels include: Physiological Needs, Safety Needs, Social Needs, Esteem Needs, and Self-Actualization.

According to SimplyPsychology.com, people are motivated to achieve each of the needs in the pyramid.  After people fulfill the needs at one level they move on to the next.  To progress up the pyramid each lower need must be met.  Any time there is a failure to meet the needs at a lower level it disrupts the person’s ability to progress.  Life is unpredictable.  As situations arise these experiences can cause an individual to move back and forth between levels.

According to Maslow, only one in one hundred people ever become fully self-actualized. This is mainly due to our society which primarily rewards motivation based on esteem, love and other social needs.

How Does Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Help Us Understand Employee Engagement?

To understand how Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs relates, we need to see the bigger picture.  Let’s start with Gallup’s “State of the American Workplace”. According to the report published last year, only 30 percent of employees are engaged.  Another 52 percent are disengaged and 18 percent are actively disengaged. What exactly does that mean?  It means that 70 percent of the American workforce is not committed to their organization’s goals and values.  They are not motivated to contribute to the organization’s success.  These workers are emotionally disconnected and less productive.

According to an article in Forbes, “Surprising, Disturbing Facts from the Mother of All Employee Engagement Surveys”, the leading factor that influences employee engagement is the relationship the employee has with their managers.  Choosing the right leaders significantly impacts the workforce.

“Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.” —Sam Walton

According to a study by Delloitte.com, “Global Human Capital Trends 2014—engaging the 21^st Century Workforce”, 65 percent of executives rated “overwhelmed employees” as an urgent need that must be addressed.  The “always on” employee was built by mobile technology.  We are always connected 24/7.  The new “workaholic” lifestyle just increases with seniority and income.

In addition to employees being overwhelmed, some other reasons for disengaged employees are: workload is too high, companies that do not invest in talent development, no advancement opportunities for high performers, non-inclusive culture, transitions in leadership.

“People leave managers, not organizations.” —Anonymous

The key to engaging employees, motivating your team, and increasing productivity in the long run is to invest in your workers.  Re-design the position, add benefits that matter, change the work environment and develop your team and leadership.  It is not always easy to re-engage a disengaged employee, but people aren’t motivated by the bottom line.  They are motivated by the things that meet their hierarchy of needs.

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Team Building is an Art

Team building takes some human relation skills such as: Motivation, Leadership, and Communications; all of which boost Morale. In addition to an astute understanding of people and your team in particular; here are five tools that you can use to inspire and build your team:

1. Clearly define goals, roles, and responsibilities: To get your team to become a more cohesive unit, it is important to communicate not only the reason the team is in place, but also to clearly define what roles each team member plays in the bigger picture.  When we all know our place, it is easier to contribute to the shared goals of the team.

2. Be a cheerleader: Motivating a team is often a difficult task.  Why? Because you must first build interdependence, respect and trust.  When you take the time to listen to your team, such as through group brainstorming, you show them that their opinions and knowledge are important to the group as a whole and the end goal.  When you take the time to build up your team through encouragement and celebrating accomplishments, you build self-esteem and loyalty.

3. Build the team you need: Leadership is a skill that is learned and there is always room for improvement.  How is this accomplished?  Teach leadership skills and provide leadership opportunities, mentor and give support, provide training in areas your team members need development.  When you invest in your team members; your team members become invested as well.

4. Build a community: A community is like a well-oiled machine.  Each team member has a place and a function that contributes to the united whole.  The community works as a whole to accomplish more than either could alone; toward a shared vision or goal.  Establish the community rules or code of conduct.  Encourage team members to participate in the community building process.  When the going gets tough, you will be glad you created a community.

5. Become a mediator not a judge: Conflicts are inevitable within a community and a team.  How you manage the conflicts will make or break what you are trying to build.  Create a plan that encourages and respects the diversity of the members and their opinions, views or ideas.  Clearly define it to your team.  People matter and finding a middle ground during conflict will help your team weather any storm.

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KnowledgeCity: A Training Solution

The way we do business changes rapidly.  With these ever changing needs, employee training is imperative.  KnowledgeCity has recognized the need for businesses to train their employees in a manner that does not interfere with, but rather enhances productivity.  We cannot train employees in the usual way.  According to a report by the Association for Talent Development, outside training cost U.S. businesses an estimated $46.9 billion in 2012.

Read the full report:  ASTD 2012 State of the Industry Report

If you are looking for the solution, you have come to the right place.  KnowledgeCity is a leader in online education with over 7000 tutorials in our video library.  Start training the smart way.

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KnowledgeCity’s Management Tutorial: The Four Functions of Management

Veteran and novice managers, look no further than KnowledgeCity for core infrastructure management tutorials on key issues facing today’s business administrations large and small. Our business management tutorials cover: management theories, finding and developing leaders, measurement and improvement on customer and employee relations, hiring and training employees, developing workplace teams and so much more.

One of the business management tutorials that KnowledgeCity offers business administrations is the Four Functions of Management. Through these business management training tutorials, administrators will learn the four core functions of business management:

Plan: The first stage to any administration team is evaluating and planning the business’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Planning is the core function of management concept to attain the goals and objectives put forth by the company.

Organization: The determination of the internal structure, relationship establishment, and all allocation of resources would be set in the second concept of management, which is organization. The formation of the infrastructure is needed to carry out the plans implemented in order to direct the business in the desired course.

Direct: After all the internal organization have been set, management should then be able to oversee and give direction to the staff’s behavior, activities, and production that would ultimately affect the company’s objective. Because all staff members should perform at their maximum capacities, management needs to provide directions well.

Control: The business management team must be able to control the production and the direction of the company at large, whether if it’s doing well or not. By overseeing the actual performance of the entire company and staff, the management team can decide what plans and rules need to be changed in order to reach its goal.

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