A. Maslow's theory of needs is the pinnacle theory in identifying the natural needs of humans in general. Up to now, there has been no better alternative theory than this theory although there are many "candidates" intending to replace it. According to A. Maslow's theory, human natural needs are divided into different levels from "bottom" to "top", reflecting its "basic" level for the existence and development of humans as both a natural creature and a social entity.
Arranging needs in a hierarchy from low to high shows that human "savagery" gradually decreases and human "civilization" gradually increases.
MASLOW's Hierarchy of Needs
| High level | Need for self-actualizationNeed for esteem and self-esteemNeed for belongingness and affection (being loved). | |
| Low level | Safety and security needsPhysical and physiological needs |
The lowest and most basic level is the physical or bodily needs of humans, including the needs for food, clothing, shelter, etc. The next level is the need for safety or the need for protection. Safety needs include safety of life and safety of property. Higher than safety needs are relationship needs such as relationships between people, relationships between people and organizations, or relationships between people and nature. People always have the need for love and attachment. This level of need shows that people have the need to communicate in order to develop. Above this level is the need to be recognized and respected. This is the desire of people to receive attention, care and respect from those around them and the desire to be an indispensable "link" in the system of social division of labor. The fact that they are respected shows that each individual wants to become a useful person according to the simple principle that "a society that values property and values work". Therefore, people often have the desire to have a high position to be respected and admired by many people. Above all these needs is the need for expression. This is the desire and effort to achieve the desire. People realize that they need to do a certain job according to their interests and only when that job is done, they feel satisfied. The theory of needs arranges human needs from low to high. The needs at the higher level will be satisfied when the lower level needs are met.
Individuals or people in organizations mainly act according to their needs. It is the satisfaction of their needs that makes them happy and encourages them to act. At the same time, the satisfaction of needs and maximum satisfaction is the purpose of human action. In that way of thinking, needs become important motivations and influencing individual needs will change human behavior. In other words, leaders or managers can control the behavior of employees by using tools or measures to influence their needs or expectations, making them more enthusiastic and hardworking with the assigned work, more excited when performing tasks and more dedicated to the tasks undertaken. In the opposite case, not assigning work to employees is a way to gradually reduce their enthusiasm and also a way for employees to understand that they need to find work elsewhere when work is a need of that person.
In a business or organization, basic needs can be met through paying good and fair wages, providing free lunches or mid-shift meals, or ensuring other benefits such as bonuses based on emulation titles, rewards for tours, travel, and innovation rewards. To meet the need for safety, managers can ensure favorable working conditions, ensure that work is maintained stably, and treat employees fairly. To ensure that the need for relationships is met, employees need to be given the opportunity to work in groups, given the opportunity to expand communication between departments, and encouraged to contribute ideas to serve the development of the business or organization. Also to meet the need for developing relationships, businesses or organizations need to have fun and entertainment activities on anniversaries or other holidays. To satisfy the need for respect, employees need to be respected for their personality and qualities. In addition to being paid a salary or having a satisfactory income according to market relations, they also want to be respected for their human values. Managers or leaders, therefore, need to have mechanisms and policies to praise, honor success and widely disseminate individual achievements. At the same time, employees also need to be provided with timely feedback and promoted to new positions with greater levels and scope of influence. For the need for self-improvement, managers or bosses need to provide opportunities to develop personal strengths. At the same time, employees need to be trained and developed, encouraged to participate in the improvement process in the enterprise or organization and given conditions for their own career development. The world's tent business corporations "capture" many talented employees, including very "difficult" employees from many different countries due to the mechanism of strongly attracting this source of talent by creating conditions for them to have "a house and a car", stable jobs, very high salaries and strong promotion potential, including assigning them important responsibilities and key leadership positions in the Company...
Thus, to have the skills to encourage and motivate employees, managers or leaders need to research and understand the specific needs of their employees and have effective measures to meet them, which means they need to know how to "please" employees in a reasonable and intentional way. A newly recruited employee who needs a job and a basic income, then creating job opportunities and income for this employee is the top concern. As for an employee who has worked for a long time in the company, has mastered the job and accumulated a lot of work experience and has a high salary, the need of that employee must be to achieve a position or title in the business or organization. Promoting this employee to a new job position at a higher position than the current one will encourage this person to work more enthusiastically and effectively.
Currently, in Vietnam, although the salaries paid are quite high in joint ventures, many people still do not want to work in joint ventures but they want to work in Vietnamese agencies and enterprises with much lower salaries. The main reason comes from the concept that working in joint ventures is difficult to ensure advancement and social status development. This means that foreign joint ventures do not meet the needs of these people for promotion and advancement compared to Vietnamese agencies and enterprises... For such subjects, salary or income is not a solution to directly satisfy their needs but rather the position they must achieve. Therefore, business owners or heads of organizations need to apply this theory of needs to discover the needs of each employee, form and develop skills to motivate employees appropriately.
According to Management Magazine
