Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Explained | McDonald's Example | Motivation Theory
Summary
TLDRThis video explores Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as a motivational tool for businesses, using McDonald's as a case study. It explains how meeting employees' basic physiological needs, like food and safety, can boost productivity. The video also discusses higher-level needs, such as social belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization, and their impact on employee motivation. It highlights McDonald's strategies like free meals, uniforms, performance reviews, and recognition programs to fulfill these needs, ultimately enhancing employee potential and business success.
Takeaways
- 😀 Motivated employees are crucial for a company's productivity, performance, and team morale.
- 📚 Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a motivational theory that outlines five basic human needs in a specific order.
- 🏆 The top of the hierarchy is 'self-actualisation', where individuals can reach their full potential.
- 🍲 Physiological needs, such as food, water, and shelter, are the foundation of the hierarchy and must be met first.
- 👕 McDonald’s meets physiological needs by providing free meals, uniforms, and minimum wage to ensure staff are well-fed and clothed.
- 💼 Safety needs involve a secure working environment, fair pay, and benefits like pension schemes and holiday pay.
- 🔄 Flexible scheduling at McDonald’s helps employees balance work and personal life, contributing to their safety needs.
- 🤝 Social needs are about feeling loved, accepted, and part of a team, which McDonald’s fosters through its team structure and development opportunities.
- 🏅 Esteem needs relate to feeling appreciated and valued, which McDonald’s addresses with performance reviews and recognition programs.
- 🚀 Self-actualisation is the pinnacle of the hierarchy, where employees can fulfill their potential, often achieved through promotion or taking on new challenges.
- 🔍 Maslow's theory is straightforward and logical, but it's important to recognize individual differences in motivation and needs.
- ⚖️ While Maslow's Hierarchy is useful, it's not one-size-fits-all, and managers must understand individual employee motivations to apply it effectively.
Q & A
What is the significance of having motivated employees in a business?
-Motivated employees are crucial for enhancing productivity, performance levels, and the overall morale of the team, which in turn contributes to the success of the business.
What is Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and how is it related to motivation?
-Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a theory that suggests humans naturally strive to fulfill five sets of basic needs in a particular order. It is related to motivation as it outlines the progression from basic physiological needs to self-actualization, which can be applied to employee motivation in a business context.
What are the basic physiological needs according to Maslow's theory?
-Physiological needs refer to the fundamental human needs essential for survival, such as food, water, and shelter.
How does McDonald's meet the physiological needs of its employees?
-McDonald's meets these needs by providing free meals, uniforms, and ensuring employees receive minimum wage, which helps them afford basic necessities outside of work.
What are the safety needs in Maslow's Hierarchy and how does McDonald's address them?
-Safety needs encompass feelings of security in health and wealth. McDonald's addresses these by offering a safe working environment, fair pay, pension schemes, and guaranteed holiday and sick pay.
How does McDonald's support employees in achieving a work-life balance?
-McDonald's supports work-life balance through flexible scheduling, allowing employees to make flexible working requests via an online platform, accommodating personal commitments such as childcare or studies.
What are social needs in Maslow's theory and how does McDonald's fulfill them?
-Social needs are based on the desire to feel loved, accepted, and wanted. McDonald's fulfills these by fostering a sense of belonging through team structures and promoting positive relationships among employees.
How does McDonald's approach to employee development contribute to meeting their social needs?
-McDonald's views people development seriously, offering learning and development opportunities, which makes employees feel wanted and invested in, thus increasing loyalty and commitment.
What is the significance of self-esteem in Maslow's Hierarchy and how does McDonald's support it?
-Self-esteem is linked to feeling appreciated, valued, and recognized for one's efforts and achievements. McDonald's supports this through performance reviews, recognition schemes like 'employee of the month', and service awards.
What is self-actualization in Maslow's Hierarchy and how can McDonald's employees achieve it?
-Self-actualization is the stage where a person achieves their full potential. At McDonald's, employees can achieve this through promotions, job enrichment, taking on additional responsibilities, or leading challenging projects.
What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of using Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as a motivational theory in a business?
-Advantages include its straightforward and logical model that is easy to understand and apply. Disadvantages include the complexity of human motivation, where not all employees are motivated by the same factors, and the difficulty in measuring individual stages within the hierarchy.
Outlines
🍔 Introduction to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and McDonald's
The video script begins by emphasizing the importance of motivated employees for a business's productivity and morale. It introduces Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as a motivational theory, highlighting Abraham Maslow's 1943 paper that outlines five basic human needs in a specific order for fulfillment. The script uses McDonald's as a case study to demonstrate how businesses can apply this theory to support employee development and business success. The hierarchy starts with physiological needs, such as food and water, and moves up to safety, social, esteem, and finally self-actualization. McDonald's is shown to meet these needs by providing free meals, uniforms, minimum wage, pension schemes, and flexible scheduling, although it faced criticism in 2019 over pay and contracts.
🤝 Social and Esteem Needs at McDonald's
The second paragraph delves into the social and esteem needs within Maslow's hierarchy. Social needs are satisfied through positive relationships and a sense of belonging, which McDonald's fosters through its team structure and development opportunities. Esteem needs, which involve feeling valued and recognized, are addressed through performance reviews, recognition schemes like 'employee of the month,' and service awards. These practices aim to increase self-worth and pride among employees, contributing to higher levels of motivation and job satisfaction.
🔝 Self-Actualization and the Advantages and Disadvantages of Maslow's Theory
The final paragraph discusses self-actualization, the pinnacle of Maslow's hierarchy, where individuals reach their full potential. McDonald's promotes this through career advancement opportunities, with many managers starting as crew members. The script then reflects on the advantages and disadvantages of Maslow's theory. It is praised for its simplicity and logical structure, which helps businesses identify gaps in their employee engagement strategies. However, it also acknowledges the complexity of human motivation, suggesting that individual needs and motivations can vary widely. The difficulty in measuring an employee's stage in the hierarchy is also noted, concluding the video with a reminder of the importance of understanding individual motivations.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Motivation
💡Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
💡Physiological Needs
💡Safety Needs
💡Social Needs
💡Esteem Needs
💡Self-Actualization
💡Performance Reviews
💡Employee Engagement
💡McDonald's
💡Job Enrichment
Highlights
Motivation is crucial for productivity, performance, and team morale.
Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a theory of motivation with five basic human needs.
Self-actualization is the top of the hierarchy where humans achieve their full potential.
Physiological needs, like food and water, are the foundation for progressing through the hierarchy.
McDonald’s provides free meals and uniforms to meet employees' physiological needs.
McDonald’s ensures minimum wage to help employees afford basic living expenses.
Safety needs include a secure work environment and fair pay.
McDonald’s offers pension schemes and contributes to employees' future retirement security.
Flexible scheduling at McDonald’s supports a good work-life balance.
Job security and fair pay are scrutinized, as seen in the 2019 'McStrike' protests.
Social needs are about feeling loved, accepted, and part of a team.
McDonald’s Learning and Development strategy fosters a sense of belonging among employees.
Self-esteem needs are met through performance reviews and recognition schemes at McDonald’s.
Service Awards at McDonald’s boost self-esteem by rewarding long-term employees.
Self-actualization at McDonald’s can be achieved through promotion and career advancement.
Maslow’s Hierarchy is straightforward and logical, making it easy to apply in business.
The theory considers the correlation between human needs and motivation in the workplace.
Individual differences mean not all employees are motivated by the same factors in the hierarchy.
Businesses should understand individual motivations rather than applying a blanket approach.
Managers face challenges in measuring which stage of the hierarchy an employee is at.
Transcripts
Who wouldn’t want to have motivated employees? Having a motivated workforce is essential for
many reasons such as the productivity and performance levels of employees
alongside the general morale of the team. This video investigates Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy
of Needs as a theory of motivation with supporting examples of the model applied to McDonald’s.
In 1943 Abraham Maslow released a paper named “A Theory of Human Motivation” which implied,
that as humans, we naturally strive to fullfill 5 sets of basic human needs and we are programmed do
so in a particular order, this concept is well known today as “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”.
Right at the top of the hierarchy is where Maslow believed we can achieve
our full potential as humans, naming this stage as “self-actualisation”. However,
Maslow argued that we must first address our fundamental needs to have any chance
of progressing through the hierarchy, starting with what he referred to as physiological needs.
Following these physiological needs, Maslow believed that we also require our safety,
social, and esteem needs to be met before we can eventually become self-actualised.
In the modern world, these same principles can be applied to businesses to effectively
support the development of their employees and allow them to reach their full potential,
which in turn will help the business to succeed. Let’s have a look at each stage in more detail
with supporting examples of how Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs could be applied to McDonald’s and
how they aim to motivate their employees through the use of the theoretical model.
So, first of all, right at the bottom of the hierarchy is the Physiological needs,
referring to the basic needs of humans which are typically vital to our survival including food,
water, and shelter just to name a few. A good example of the physiological needs being met
by McDonald’s is them providing staff with a free meal whilst at work, ensuring that they
have eaten and are hydrated which helps them to focus in their role as they are likely to have
increased concentration and energy levels, therefore maximising their performance.
Also, McDonald’s provides employees with a standard uniform based on their role and supplied
free of charge, so they don’t have the worry of purchasing clothes for work. Now, one of the most
obvious ways in which McDonald’s supports their employees to meet their physiological needs is
to ensure they pay the minimum wage, as being able to afford to live, eat, and pay the bills outside
of the workplace is one of the main reasons most people are motivated to work initially.
Moving up the hierarchy, the next stage is safety. Safety refers to how safe and secure an individual
feels according to two main categories, health and wealth. Having a safe working environment,
which does not put employees in danger and one where they are treated with respect,
whilst receiving fair pay for their service are all important factors in this stage.
The pension scheme offered by McDonald’s to its eligible employees allows them to contribute a
set percentage of their wage to their future pension pot, which McDonald’s also contributes
too, providing employees with a sense of security in their future retirement income.
Another example of McDonald’s meeting the safety needs of employees is the guaranteed levels of
holiday and sick pay it provides, whilst these are legal obligations, they still contribute
to the employee’s safety needs being met. Furthermore, the use of flexible scheduling
provides employees with the opportunity to develop a good work life balance
whether this be for parents working around childcare commitments or students working
around their studies, all employees can make flexible working request via an online platform.
Job security, alongside fair pay which could be referred to today as the living wage are also
crucial factors which contribute to the basic needs of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs being met.
However, McDonald’s approach to meeting both of these came under scrutiny in 2019 when McDonald’s
employees went on what became known as ‘McStrike’ within which employees protested against low pay
and zero-hour contracts, demanding wages of £15 per hour, guaranteed hours,
and an end to youth rates. Arguing that the current rate of pay and variable hours meant
they were sometimes left unable to pay the bills, therefore impacting their physiological needs.
So, once the first two stages of the hierarchy which are collectively known as the “basic needs”
have been met, we can effectively progress to what can be known as our higher-level needs, starting
with social. Social needs are based on our natural desire to feel loved, accepted and wanted. At this
stage within the hierarchy, positive relationships between employees and the business are crucial,
a sense of belonging is pivotal. Feeling part of a team, creating friendships, and forming
professional relationship all play an influential role in social needs being satisfied. McDonald’s
views people development as a very serious matter, which effectively makes employees feel wanted and
invested in as people, which in turn increases their loyalty and commitment to the business
as their social needs are met. This is evident in their Learning and Development strategy which
plays a huge role at McDonald’s and is promoted as a key benefit of working for the business,
they believe if employees want to learn, develop and further progress their career,
then they will be provided with the opportunity to do so, regardless of their
length of service, role, or contracted hours. Another factor supporting McDonald’s employees
to meet their social needs is being part of a clearly structured team, whether their role is
customer facing, in the kitchen cooking the food, or even the distribution centres, every employee
is part of a team which allows them to build positive relationships and a sense of belonging.
Near the top of Maslow’s Hierarchy is the need for self-esteem, which is linked to the feeling
of being appreciated and valued, whilst effort and achievement is duly recognised, providing an
individual with a sense of self-worth and pride. At McDonald’s, every employee has three separate
performance reviews within their first year and every six months from then on, allowing employees
to truly understand how they are performing and where they need to develop as individuals.
These performance reviews not only allow employees to be praised for their efforts and
achievements which in turn increase self-esteem, but they are also linked to an annual pay review,
which increases the focus on personal performance. McDonald’s also use a recognition schemes such as
“employee of the month” to acknowledge and appreciate individual employees’ effort
and achievements with the aim of increasing their self-worth and pride.
Another strategy to boost self-esteem amongst employees is the “Service Awards” within which
employees are rewarded for their continued service and loyalty to McDonald’s through a
recognition and reward scheme, within which employees can receive retail gift vouchers
which can be worth up to £1,000 for employees who have worked at the business for 30 years.
Right at the top of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is self-actualisation, which
Maslow believes to be the stage where a person achieves their full potential as a human being.
Essentially, they have developed their craft, nurtured their skills, and stretched themselves
to a point where they are at their peak and doing everything they are truly capable of at
that moment in time. However, it is important to be aware that a person rarely stays in a
permanent state of self-actualisation as it is an ongoing need for personal growth and discovery.
Put simply, what makes a person self-actualised at one point in their life
maybe completely different to what makes a person self-actualised later in life
as their desires, attitude to life, and personal circumstances change.
At McDonald’s, the opportunity for promotion not only acts as a motivator in general,
but if achieved, promotion can be the reason why an employee progresses to the top of Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs and becomes self-actualised for a period of time. An example of this could
be an employee who has worked for McDonald’s for a number of years in various roles,
undertaken lots of different training and development opportunities and has finally achieved
their ambition of becoming a Manager. This is the story for 90% of McDonald’s Managers who started
at McDonald’s as crew members and worked their way up the career ladder due to the emphasis of
McDonalds internally promoting employees rather than recruiting externally where possible.
At this point, when the employee is fulfilling their potential
and working at their full capability, they have the potential to become self-actualised.
However, it’s important to note that becoming self-actualised for employees of any business,
not just McDonald’s, isn’t just solely centred around promotion and a job title, it could be
through job enrichment and taking on additional responsibilities or leading on a challenging
project, anything that provides an employee with the opportunity to fulfil their potential.
Now that we’ve looked at each stage of the hierarchy and some examples of how
McDonald’s as a business potentially supports their employees to progress to the point
of being self-actualised, it’s very important
to consider some of the key advantages and disadvantages of the motivational theory.
A key advantage of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is it being a very straight forward and logical model
which is easy to understand and apply to a given to business, effectively allowing a manager or
the owners of a business to identify any missing elements in their employee engagement strategy.
Following this, human nature is taken into account and the theory carefully considers the correlation
between our needs and wants as human beings and the impact of these on our levels of motivation,
emphasising the importance of meeting our basic needs before anything else can be
achieved to maximise performance in the workplace. However, humans are very complex and not every
employee is going to be motivated by the same factors. Infact each individual employee is likely
to motivated to a different degree by each stage of the hierarchy. For example, certain employees
may be highly motivated by the basic physiological needs but have no desire to have other factors
such as their social or esteem needs to be met due to personal circumstances or preferences.
Whereas other employees could have completely different reasons for coming to work,
it could be solely based on having their social needs met. Therefore, they never
strive to become self-actualised, so they aren’t motivated by money nor progression opportunities.
Therefore, to ensure all employees remain motivated it is important that businesses
get to know them on an individual basis to clarify what motivates them personally and
why they come to work, rather than just assuming and applying a blanket approach.
A final factor to consider is the difficulty managers face
when trying to measure which stage an individual employee is at within the hierarchy
and the impact of them satisfying certain needs as it is subjective in nature.
So that’s it, Malow’s Hierarchy of Needs. I hope you’ve found the video useful,
if you have don’t forget to like the video and subscribe to Two Teachers YouTube channel
for lots more Business Studies content. Thanks for listening and all the best.
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