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According to this equation, motivation, ability, and environment are the major
influences over employee performance.
14.1 Need-Based Theories of Motivation
LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Explain how employees are motivated according to Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs.
2. Explain how ERG theory addresses the limitations of Maslow’s
hierarchy.
3. Describe the difference between factors contributing to employee
motivation and how these differ from factors contributing to dissatisfaction.
4. Describe the needs for achievement, power, and affiliation, and how
these needs affect work behavior.
The earliest answer to motivation involved understanding individual needs.
Specifically, early researchers thought that employees try hard and demonstrate goal-
driven behavior to satisfy needs. For example, an employee who is always walking
around the office talking to people may have a need for companionship and his
behavior may be a way of satisfying this need. There are four major theories in the
need-based category: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, ERG theory, Herzberg’s dual
factor theory, and McClelland’s acquired needs theory.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Abraham Maslow is among the most prominent psychologists of the 20th
century and the hierarchy of needs, accompanied by the pyramid representing how
human needs are ranked, is an image familiar to most business students and
managers. Maslow’s theory is based on a simple premise: Human beings have needs
[1]
that are hierarchically ranked. There are some needs that are basic to all human
beings, and in their absence, nothing else matters. As we satisfy these basic needs, we
start looking to satisfy higher-order needs. Once a lower-level need is satisfied, it no
longer serves as a motivator.
The most basic of Maslow’s needs are physiological needs. Physiological
needs refer to the need for air, food, and water. Imagine being very hungry. At that
point, all your behavior may be directed at finding food. Once you eat, though, the
search for food ceases and the promise of food no longer serves as a motivator. Once
physiological needs are satisfied, people tend to become concerned about safety. Are
they safe from danger, pain, or an uncertain future? One level up,social needs refer to
the need to bond with other human beings, to be loved, and to form lasting
attachments. In fact, having no attachments can negatively affect health and well-

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