A Class with Drucker - Headway | Work on yourself

HOW TO MOTIVATE THE KNOWLEDGE WORKER ■ 227
Maslow’s first level consists of physiological needs like eating or
breathing. Once these basic physiological needs are satisfied, people seek
the next highest level. These are security or safety needs. That’s where
salary, benefits, and job security come in. Note that they are also at the
bottom of the pyramid.
On the next level are social or affiliation needs. After this comes the
esteem level. Respect and recognition are motivational at this level. Maslow’s
highest level is self-actualization. That is, to be everything you are capable
of, Maslow also identified two categories of needs not on his hierarchy.
These were the desire to know and understand, and aesthetic needs.
Let’s see how Maslow’s theory might affect motivation from a practical
standpoint. Once knowledge workers have achieve their needs at a certain
level, they are no longer motivated by the levels below. Do you stop and
worry about breathing? Not unless you have health problems affecting
your ability to breathe. It is the same <strong>with</strong> salary, benefits, and job security.
If an employee has a salary, benefits, and job security in amounts he finds
acceptable, these may no longer motivate. Of course, if there is a threat of
losing these three factors, they may become motivational once again.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs helps to explain why high salary, good
benefits, and job security may not be as important as other motivational
factors, except as symbols of these other factors.
Symbols are important. Some years ago, I worked at a company that
gave a salary review every year. The amount of annual salary raise was
keyed to performance. A top performer could get as much as a 10 percent
increase. An average performer received a lower percentage increase for
the year. Someone performing below par didn’t receive an increase. One
year the company had a very bad year. Company management felt that it
could not afford the same percentage of increases as it had used in the
past. It explained the situation to all employees and informed them of its
decision. Everyone in the company, including top management, would be
limited to a two percent increase for the top performers. Despite the fact
that the actual amount of increase was much lower than in previous
years, it was still a motivator because the increases were symbolic of high
achievement and were not awarded to everyone.
Different Motivators Accomplish Different Things
According to Peter, considering Maslow’s hierarchy by itself was insufficient.
Frederick Herzberg, who I mentioned previously, built on Maslow’s