Maslow's Case

Maslow's motivational theory is made up of five levels of needs. Each of this need is required for human beings. The needs can be viewed as a pyramid with the bottom level needed for survival and the progressive levels needed if one were to be truly motivated in life. The first level of needs is the Physiological needs. These needs include food, water, air and sleep and are need for survival. The next level of needs are Security related such as steady employment, safe environment for oneself and his family. Shank's old boss failed to meet her social and to some extent her Esteem needs. Social needs include the need for belonging, affection and friendship. Relationships such as friendships, romantic attachments and families help fulfill this need for companionship and acceptance, as does involvement in social, community or religious groups ( Kendra Cherry). Esteem needs are the next step to social needs where a person wants to be recognized for her work and needs to know that he or she is doing something meaningful. Shank's old boss never got involved in her work nor spent any time to review what she was doing. This made her feel that her work was meaningless and of no significance to the organization. Both her social and esteem needs were unmet due to the attitude of her boss. To avoid this situation the manager should ensure that there is regular communication with their subordinates. There should be some fixed times for meeting the subordinates and apprising their work. The manager should provide feedback and give compliment and other public forms of recognition when it is due. Apart from this, there should be an open door policy throughout the organization where employees can approach senior management when they need them.