Maslow Case

Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a theory set by the psychological professor Maslow, which comes from an initial research on healthy personality. Subsequently, Maslow applied this theory to describe the form that human motivations generally move up. In other words, each individual should be satisfied by the basic need substantially and then move up to a higher level. Likewise, it is worthwhile for managers to manipulate this idea to motivate employees, which has been utilized in most countries of the world. In contemporary Chinese business, how to cope with the relationship between managers and employees seems to be a crucial problem. Therefore, China is one member of those countries mentioned inevitably. This essay will critically evaluate how each advisable stair of Maslow's pyramid run as the way of understanding employee motivation in modern Chinese firms and then give out another two versions of pyramids to compare with the premier one to find out some virtual drawbacks in Maslow's theory.

First of all, since Maslow's theory is so popular in the world, there have to be sufficient evidence to support its common use ,particularly in China. For example, there is no doubt that the bottom layer of a pyramid plays the most important part in the holistic system. In the same way, physiological need which includes food, air, water , shelter and other basic living facilities is defined as the most basic need. It is also the reason why many individuals would rank salary as the top factor when considering a job. Facing this common phenomenon, the fact that wages and salaries make up about 80% of employees' compensation seems to be considerably normal in some way, especially in China. According to the official report, it is empirically stated that Chinese Engel Coefficient increases to 40% in 2010. Although such an unlucky figure reflects that the average financial level of Chinese families is low, Chinese firms should pay more attention to employees' foundations and make great effort to satisfy their physiological need.

Another good illustration of advocating Maslow's theory in China is the middle stage in his pyramid, belongingness and love need. An philosophical saying from Morrie Schwartz is "the most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in". In general, if this need is not fulfilled or satisfied , many employees will become susceptible to loneliness, social anxiety ,and depression. In addition, Chinese employees' belongingness to family is much stronger than others. A company with love and belongingness will maximize their productivity as much as possible.

Besides those two sorts of needs mentioned, the last but one class, esteem need, also contributes immeasurably to the popularity of the theory. The relative research has shown that lack of recognition from their direct supervisor is one of the main reasons employees leave their jobs. Similarly, many individuals will join or stay with a company to satisfy their esteem needs through a sense of accomplishment in their work. Whilst in China, there is a famous idiom, "a scholar prefers death to humiliation". Influenced by such traditional Chinese Confucius culture, most Chinese regard esteem as an extremely important substance.

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