A slideshow containing useful information about the importance of Maslow's contribution to modern management principles.

1. Abraham Maslow Guta Mihai-Alexandru !
gr. 123 FABIZ

2. Who was he ?
!
Abraham Harold Maslow (April 1, 1908 – June 8, 1970) was
an American psychologist and a a psychology professor at
Brandeis University, Brooklyn College, New School for Social
Research and Columbia University. He stressed the importance
of focusing on the positive qualities in people, as opposed to
treating them as a "bag of symptoms."

3. Major theories and concepts
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Maslow was concerned with questions such as, "Why don't more people
self-actualise if their basic needs are met? How can we humanistically
understand the problem of evil?""
Humanistic psychologists believe that every person has a strong
desire to realise his or her full potential, to reach a level of "self-
actualization" by their own means . Maslow did not conduct his
studies on mentally ill person , but focused on analysing the
behaviour and reactions of healthy individuals instead.

4. 1) Qualities of self-actualising people
Self-actualising people tend to focus on problems outside themselves; have
a clear sense of what is true and what is false; are spontaneous and creative;
and are not bound too strictly by social conventions."
According to Maslow, self-actualising people share the following qualities :"
• Truth!
• Goodness!
• Beauty!
• Wholeness!
• Aliveness !
• Unique !
• Perfection !
• Necessity !
• Completion!
• Justice!
• Order!
• Simplicity!
• Richness !
• Self-sufficiency

5. 2) Dynamics of self-actualisation
Maslow based his theory partially on his own assumptions about human
potential and partially on his case studies of historical figures whom he
believed to be self-actualised, including Albert Einstein and Henry David
Thoreau. Consequently, Maslow argued, the way in which essential needs
are fulfilled is just as important as the needs themselves. Together, these
define the human experience."
!
Maslow used Einstein's writings and accomplishments to exemplify the
characteristics of the self-actualised person. But Ruth Benedict and Max
Wertheimer were also Maslow's models of self-actualisation .

6. Hierarchy of Needs - Importance for Management
Maslow saw human beings' needs arranged like a ladder. The most
basic needs, at the bottom, were PHYSICAL -- air, water, food, sex.
Then came SAFETY needs -- security, stability -- followed by
PSYCHOLOGICAL, or SOCIAL needs -- for belonging, love,
acceptance. At the top of it all were the SELF-ACTUALISING needs
-- the need to full-fill oneself, to become all that one is capable of
becoming.

7. Maslow's Pyramid of Needs

8. According to Maslow's theory, when a human being ascends the levels of
the hierarchy having fulfilled the needs in the hierarchy, one may
eventually achieve self-actualisation. "
!
Maslow felt that unfulfilled needs lower on the ladder would inhibit the
person from climbing to the next step. Someone dying of thirst quickly
forgets their thirst when they have no oxygen, as he pointed out."
!
This fact , as proved by Maslow , represents a fundamental principle that
every good manager should be aware of . So , the management process has
to be done in the correct order , starting from accomplishing the easier
tasks on the bottom , climbing from there to the more complex activities
situated in the upper part. "

9. Most significant writings
•! A Theory of Human Motivation (1943)."
•! Motivation and Personality (1st edition: 1954, 2nd ed: 1970, 3rd ed: 1987)"
•! Religions, Values and Peak-experiences, (1964)."
•" Eupsychian Management (1965) ; rep. as Maslow on Management, (1998)"
•! The Psychology of Science: A Reconnaissance (1966); "
•! Toward a Psychology of Being (1st edition, 1962; 2nd edition, 1968)"
•" The Farther Reaches of Human Nature (1971)

10. Criticism and scepticism
Maslow's ideas have been criticised for their lack of scientific rigour.
He was criticised as too soft scientifically by American empiricists.
Basing his studies upon biographical data , the interpretation might
turn to be subjective - not what a scientific research needs to be. "
!
Furthermore, the Hierarchy of Needs has been accused of having a
cultural bias—mainly reflecting Western values and ideologies. From
the perspective of many cultural psychologists, this concept is
considered relative to each culture and society and cannot be
universally applied.

11. – A. H. Maslow (Psychology of Science)
"If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail "