Does Maslow's hierarchy of needs apply to all cultures?

Résumé du document

Motivating employees is one of the primary responsibilities of a manager in any organization. It is critical in the management practice to understand what motivates people. Motivation is defined as "a psychological process through which unsatisfied wants or needs lead to drives that are aimed at goals or incentives" (Hodgetts and Luthans, 2000, p.372). The human motivation process is universal but it is important to understand that the content of the process and the goals that are followed by individuals will be influenced by their culture. Nowadays, thanks to the globalization process, the cultural diversity of employees in organizations is increasing. What motivates people in one country is not obliged to work in another one. So in order to increase performance in the workplace, managers face the need to understand the different cultures and their needs.

Extraits

[...] Esteem needs, which represents the fourth level of the hierarchy, can be internal or external. Internal esteem needs can be self-respect and achievement and external esteem needs are represented by power, social status and recognition: “I'm known”. In a business environment, managers can address those needs by promoting employees and giving them praise and recognition for a good job. The summit of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs symbolizes self-actualization needs. This is the need for an individual to reach its own full potential. [...]

[...] Those countries such as Africa or Latin America value job security higher than US people who value more job variety. The third dimension is Feminity versus Masculinity. In Masculine cultures such as Eastern countries or Americas, workers value competition and self- achievement. In Feminine cultures, such as we said before Scandinavia, quality of life is the most important thing in life and in order to motivate employees, managers should provide good working conditions and time for leisure. The last dimension is Power Distance. [...]

[...] Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is so acceptable for individualist cultures such as the US or every Anglo culture. But regarding other cultural contexts, it does not seem to make sense. Indeed, this model is too narrow to be applied globally. Other theories such as Hofstede's cultural dimensions, analysed previously, seems to be better to understand international workers' motivations. Understanding the motivators of a culturally diverse workforce is one of the major challenges facing international managers today. International managers have to take into account cultural differences between their employees in designing an HR policy such as monetary incentives, job design, performance appraisal and feedback. [...]

[...] References Jianzhong Hong, Center for Activity Theory and Developmental Work Research, University of Helsinki and South China Normal University, Work motivation in the context of culture and activity - A study of foreign and local enterprises in South China Motivation- nothing would ever be created without it, http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1848/motiv.html, Date accessed 31/01/06 Sondra Thiederman, PhD, Motivating Employees from Other Cultures, http://diversity.monster.com/articles/culturalmotivating/, Date accessed 2/02/06 http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/ob/motivation/maslow/, Date accessed 2/02/06 Cultural Psychology, Chapter 12, Culture and Motivation, http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~kppeng/ch12ov.htm , Date accessed 3/02/06 Edward L. Deci, Richard M. Ryan, Marylène Gagné, Dean R. Leone, Julian Usunov Boyanka P. Kornazheva, PSPB, Vol No August 2001 930-942 Need Satisfaction, Motivation, and Well-Being in the Work Organizations of a Former Eastern Bloc Country: A Cross-Cultural Study of Self-Determination Valery I. Chirkov, Richard M. [...]

[...] Does Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs apply to all cultures? Motivating employees is one of the primary responsibilities of a manager in any organization. It is critical in the management practice to understand what motivates people. Motivation is defined as psychological process through which unsatisfied wants or needs lead to drives that are aimed at goals or incentives” (Hodgetts and Luthans p.372)[1] The human motivation process is universal but it is important to understand that the content of the process and the goals that are followed by individuals will be influenced by their culture. [...]