ABRAHAM MASLOW -- ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGISTS OF THE 20TH CENTURY

Back in the 60’s, Abraham Maslow struck a chord with the strong idea that human growth and development needs form a predictable hierarchy: Each layer in his hierarchy builds on the previous, and all of them together form a triangle shape, with "self-actualization" as the final layer—the top of the hierarchy, is the tip of the triangle.

Organizational behavior includes the study of behavior in the work environment. One topic of interest to managers and researchers is work motivation. This is why it is so important to study motivation as it applies to the work environment. Before Abraham Maslow, the psychological world was filled with psychoanalysis with no definitive directions. Maslow changed all this by popularizing psychological humanism. Famous people like Abraham Lincoln were subjects of study before but they had little relevance. One of Maslow's most important contributions to psychology was his theory of human needs, developed in the 1970's.

He set up his theory of needs in which all the basics are at the bottom, and the needs connected with man's highest potential are at the top. Each level of the pyramid is dependent on the previous level. For example, a person does not feel the second need until the demands of the first have been satisfied. The needs are: Safety, Love, Affection and Belongingness,  Esteem, and Self-actualization. Finally, he notes that a satisfied need no longer motivates. Like a hungry man may be desperate for food, but once he eats a good meal, the promise of food no longer motivates him. So why are these important…. because as Maslow says they set the patterns for study of people management.