Is Maslow Still Valid? Your Input… Please

Maslow is still incredibly valid, especially when we’re talking about not only recruiting and hiring people, but about the far more important subject of motivation and talent retention. If you take care of the bottom of the pyramid, you have one heck of a better chance at achieving the top. If you read the “Carrot” books, this is essentially what they are talking about when they talk about specific and deserved praise. That’s how you meet those top two sections. But if someone can’t feed their family, then your praise isn’t worth anything to them. Yeah, I’d say Maslow is still valid.

Just like back in Maslow’s day, his hierarchy of needs is valid as a framework. It’s a model, and a rather good one – it gives us a common language, it gives us concepts to work with. It is not however the only useful model out there… but frankly who cares? It’s accessible, easily understood and I apply it in my work on a monthly basis, I would say. Sometimes, just in discussion, to illustrate a point. Sometimes, as I think through what is going on with an individual or even my own job satisfaction. Ye ol’ hierarchy isn’t perfect, never was, but on the whole, it works.

If you don’t believe in Maslow’s hierarchy, let me put you in a vacuum. Still don’t believe,
O.K. we will give you back you air, and put you in a box in the dark.
If you have employees and understand what their motivation is then you can lead them, if you don’t
you will constantly be trying to “Manage” them and the only thing that does is prove how good YOU are
at ticking off your to-do list and making sure they(your employees) do what you told them to because
they will not do anything simply because they see that it should be done!

Okay, it’s “valid”.
It’s a great discussion point, it gets people thinking, it has intuitive appeal, etc.
But does it really explain or predict; which a good theory must do.
In my graduate program in industrial psych, we gave it very little consideration. As one professor said, “Maslow is to motivation as the ‘Golden Rule’ is to ethics. If that’s all you want to know, then you can leave the program after the first week.”

I find the relative accessibility of Maslow’s hierarchy to be double-edged. On the postive side it is easy to understand and anyone can relate to it. Unfortunately, this ease of understanding causes some people to believe that reciting the model qualifies them as practicing amatuer psychologists. Like any model, Maslow’s hierarchy is a conceptual abstraction. It’s mis-used when it’s interpreted as a linear recipe.