38. Set forth Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Based on his work as a clinical psychologist, Abraham M. Maslow devel­oped a comprehensive view of individual motivation.

Maslow’s need hierarchy arranges human needs into a pyramid-shaped model with basic physiological needs at the bottom and self-actualization needs at the top.

• Lower-order needs, called deficiency needs, must be satisfied to ensure a person’s existence, security, and requirements for human contact. Higher-order needs, or growth needs, are concerned with personal development and reaching one’s potential. Before higher-level needs are activated, the lower-order needs must be satisfied. The five levels of needs are described next.

• Physiological needs are the basic bodily requirements such as nutrition, water, shelter, moderate temperatures, rest, and sleep. Most office jobs allow us to satisfy physiological needs. The recent acceptance of stress-reducing and productivity-boosting naps helps workers satisfy an important physiological need.

• Safety needs include the desire to be safe from both physical and emotional injury. Many people who work at dangerous jobs would be motivated by the prospects of obtaining safety. For example, computer operators who are suffering from repetitive motion disorder would prefer a job that requires less intense pressure on their wrists. Any highly stressful job can frustrate the need for emotional safety.

• Social needs are the needs for love, belonging, and affiliation with people. Managers can contribute to the satisfaction of these needs by promoting teamwork and allowing people to discuss work problems with one another. Many employees see their jobs as a major source for satisfying social needs.

• Esteem needs reflect a person’s desire to be seen by himself or herself and others as a person of worth. Occupations with high status are a primary source for the satisfaction of esteem needs. Managers can help employees satisfy their esteem needs by praising the quality of their work.

• Self-actualization needs relate to the desire to reach one’s potential. They include needs for self-fulfillment and personal development. True self-actualization is an ideal to strive for, rather than something that automatically stems from occupying a challenging position. Self-actualized people are those who are becoming all they are capable of becoming. Managers can help group members move toward self-actualization by giving them challenging assign­ments and the chance for advancement and new learning.

Applications of Maslow's hierarchy theory to the work of the classroom teacher are obvious. Before a student's cognitive needs can be met they must first fulfil their basic physiological needs. For example a tired and hungry student will find it difficult to focus on learning. Students need to feel emotionally and physically safe and accepted within the classroom to progress and reach their full potential.

Maslow suggests students must be shown that they are valued and respected in the classroom and the teacher should create a supportive environment. Students with a low self-esteem will not progress academically at an optimum rate until their self-esteem is strengthened.