Paper 6 Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Start Assignment (Essay Sample)

Paper 6: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Start Assignment Student Name Institutional Affiliations Instructor Date Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and how it is complemented from 3 articles 034480500Introduction Maslow’s theory on the hierarchy of needs postulates that people are usually motivated to achieve the needs which they have and those needs appear in a certain order of precedence. He summarized those needs in a five-stage model where the most basic type of needs are physiological needs such as air, food, water, clothing, shelter. These are followed by another category called safety needs which entails personal security, resources, employment, health etc. The third category is love and a sense of belonging where individuals seek after friendships, family, intimacy and a sense of belonging. The fourth category is the esteem needs such as respect, status, freedom, recognition etc. The fifth category is self-actualization needs which carries a desire for one to become the best one can ever be (Taormina & Gao, 2013). Maslow postulation is that there are prerequisites towards meeting these needs. In light of three articles, this paper analyzes how Maslow’s theory is supported or challenged. Body Maslow categorized what motivates humans into an hierarchical order. The hierarchy ranges from concrete basic needs to abstract concepts like self-fulfillment. According to the theory, whenever a lower need is met, the succeeding higher level becomes the central focus which should be attended to. However the article ‘Growing share of childless adults in U.S. don’t expect to ever have children’ by Brown (2021) seems to support this and in some areas it also challenges Maslow’s theory. According to this article, adults in U.S are losing the motivation of children upbringing while the reasons are attributive to age, medical, financial, state of the world, lack of partners and also climate change. Below are some excerpts from the article. “A majority (56%) of non-parents younger than 50 who say it’s unlikely they will have children someday say they just don’t want to have kids” (Brown, 2021; para.4) “Among childless adults who say they have some other reason for thinking they won’t have kids in the future, no single reason stands out” (Brown, 2021; para.5) 0190500 From the data in this article, there is an evident problem with child bearing. According to Maslow, needs have to be fulfilled in the order of physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem and finally self-actualization. Higher needs in this hierarchy are only meant to emerge upon sufficient satisfaction of lower level needs. Despite the blames many people have on age, climate change, medical etc, the truth lies in the fact that they feel no need for child bearing having not been able to fully satisfy lower needs such physiological and security needs. Child bearing is as a result of romantic relationship which is a social need in the third cadre of fulfilling needs (Poldma, 2016). Non-parents in this case have the burden of securing their financial status, health, food etc first. According to Maslow, this places a break upon them and thus they don’t feel the desire to move up and fulfill hire needs like child bearing. For the young parents who feel they can’t have more children, it is because they feel that their status in terms of finances and security cannot support more children. Looking into the factors such as lack of partners, it is an obligation which comes after lower needs are fulfilled. Issues of climate change are blamed since individuals feel that their future is threatened by such uncertainties and they can’t place more burdens on such a dull future. State of the world is blame to the economy and this threatens the financial status of families. In this area, Maslow’s theory is challenged in that higher needs are not essentially fulfilled because the lower needs are fully attended to. In this scenario, people can avoid fulfilling a higher need because of uncertainties which they foresee. Children upbringing lays a demand on the parent of –feeding, security at home, schooling etc which could be avoided by people who feel uncertain of fulfilling these necessities for their children. “Loving your job is a capitalist trap” is another article by Cech (2022) and it is critical about meaningful work. According to the article, people are shifting towards fulfilling work as opposed to job security and decent salaries which have even seen many join into the Great Resignation post-Covid. “Over the past three decades, college students and college-educated workers have turned to what I call the “passion principle”—the prioritization of fulfilling work even at the expense of job security or a decent salary—as a road map for how to make decisions about their career” (Cech, 2022; para.2). The author argues that although people are drifting towards their passion and what gives them fulfillment as opposed to job security and good compensation there is a problem with that take which is financial risk and lack of nurturing within the white-collar work places. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, employment is a second level need coming under safety or security need. It becomes salient after physiological settlement of individuals. People seek to experience order, control and predictability in their jobs. They will thus seek to have personal connections with the work they perform. People who will perform Jobs which will not offer fulfillment will be detached and disinterested. In job, people are seeking for a work-life balance. Here Maslow theory is supported in that the organizational management can create a supportive work environment by offering precise descriptions of every job and cultivating a positive work culture so that individuals can find fulfillment in what they do. “How can I wrangle my work to leave me with more time and energy for the things and people that bring me joy?” (Cech, 2022; para.7) In this case, while people have fulfilling jobs, according to Maslow, they will be seeking to fulfill their social needs i.e, they would want to have a sense of belonging and experience love. This calls for a work-life balance as advocated for by the author. Maslow notes that people have needs to be met in an order. Work will provide for basic needs such as food, money, shelter, and safety (Buyao & Danyang, 2020). Work will also allow belongingness and will boost esteem There isn’t anyone to blame for anything that happens other than yourself. It’s really all up to you There isn’t anyone to blame for anything that happens other than yourself. It’s really all up to you. However the needs in the upper level of the pyramid are not met such as leisure and lifestyle needs. Thus, work must allow people to satisfy those higher needs. ...