Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Explained | McDonald's Example | Motivation Theory

Summary

This 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

00:00

🍔 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.

05:05

🤝 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.

10:07

🔝 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.

Keywords

💡Motivation

Motivation refers to the psychological forces that drive people to take action. In the video, motivation is central to understanding how employees can be encouraged to perform at their best. The script discusses how Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs provides a framework for motivating employees by addressing their physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization needs.

💡Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

This is a psychological theory proposed by Abraham Maslow, which suggests that people have five sets of needs, arranged in a hierarchy from basic to more complex. In the video, Maslow's Hierarchy is used as a model to explain how businesses, such as McDonald's, can motivate their employees by fulfilling these needs, starting from the most basic to the most advanced, like self-actualization.

💡Physiological Needs

Physiological needs are the most basic level of needs in Maslow's hierarchy, including requirements for survival such as food, water, and shelter. The script mentions how McDonald's meets these needs by providing free meals to staff, ensuring they are well-fed and hydrated to perform their roles effectively.

💡Safety Needs

Safety needs, as discussed in the script, refer to the desire for security and stability, encompassing health and financial safety. McDonald's is highlighted as offering a pension scheme and guaranteed holiday and sick pay to fulfill these needs, contributing to a sense of security for its employees.

💡Social Needs

Social needs in Maslow's hierarchy are about the desire for love, belonging, and acceptance. The video script explains that McDonald's fosters a sense of team and belonging among its employees, which is crucial for satisfying their social needs and building positive relationships.

💡Esteem Needs

Esteem needs involve the desire for respect, recognition, and a sense of achievement. The script describes how McDonald's conducts performance reviews and uses recognition schemes such as 'employee of the month' to boost employees' self-esteem by acknowledging their efforts and achievements.

💡Self-Actualization

Self-actualization is the highest level in Maslow's hierarchy, representing the state where individuals realize their full potential. The video script uses the example of McDonald's managers who started as crew members and worked their way up, achieving their ambitions and potentially reaching a state of self-actualization.

💡Performance Reviews

Performance reviews are formal assessments of how well an employee is performing their job. In the context of the video, McDonald's conducts these reviews to provide feedback and recognition, which is linked to pay reviews and contributes to meeting employees' esteem needs.

💡Employee Engagement

Employee engagement refers to the involvement and satisfaction of employees with their work. The script suggests that by understanding and applying Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, businesses can improve engagement by addressing the various motivational factors that drive employees.

💡McDonald's

McDonald's is used as a case study in the video to illustrate how a business can apply Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to motivate its employees. The script provides examples of how McDonald's meets various needs, such as providing free meals for physiological needs and offering a pension scheme for safety needs.

💡Job Enrichment

Job enrichment is the process of adding more responsibilities and challenges to a job to increase its intrinsic value. The video script mentions job enrichment as a way for employees to fulfill their potential, which could lead to self-actualization, by taking on additional responsibilities or leading challenging projects.

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.