Abraham Maslow (1908 - 1970) is an American psychologist, best known for his Hierarchy of Human Needs. Maslow proposed that all human beings have needs most of which are innate. These needs can be broadly classified as physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem and self-actualization. They are placed in a pyramid with the lowest level being the broadest and most powerful. The first four layers in the pyramid are known as the D-needs or the Deficiency needs. These needs do not make much difference to a person when fulfilled but they make him anxious when absent. They are known as “being needs” or “meta needs”. The physiological needs are the basic needs like food, water, sleep, breath, etc… It is when these needs are met that a person can move on to the others.

Abraham Maslow provided one of the best theories of motivation. Maslow proposes that each of us is motivated by our needs. His contention is that people progress towards higher needs when the lower ones are met. One concept that is used by most organizations is that of self-actualization. The traits that characterize self-actualization are a keen sense of reality, insusceptibility to social pressures, creativity and originality, fair and democratic spontaneity and a good sense of humor that can also be self-directed. Organizations now understand the fact that all the employees have a desire to have some private time, enjoy the friendship of certain people, enjoy certain privileges, they need to rely on their judgments and work on their learning curve as much as employers do. All good firms encourage their employees to pursue hobbies and social activities as part of the firm initiative. Maslow’s need theory is also applied to training. Motivational strategies are built upon identifying what the employees perceive to be their fundamental needs. Each team member can be asked to write down what are most important to him and what are not. They have to be prioritized and then the employee should be asked to map them to the organizational objectives. This will give them something to work on with respect to have mid-term and short-term goals apart from being the source of developing long-term goals also.

Maslow is known as the Father of Enlightened Management. Keeping employees motivated is the key to enhance the performance levels and productivity of the employees. The human centered perspective of Maslow has changed the face of psychology in many ways firstly bringing the world out of the dark clouds of Freudian psychology. That people strive to be happy is the guiding principle of Maslow’s theory. Having a work-life balance is the key to employee satisfaction and hence retention.