What Elements of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need Theory of Motivation Are Evident in Bain & Company? Discuss Them in the Context of the Company.

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What elements of Maslow’s hierarchy of need theory of motivation are evident in Bain & company? Discuss them in the context of the company. Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory contains five basic universal needs; physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualisation. These needs are arranged in a hierarchy (see in appendix 2), in which an individual must move through, satisfying the lower needs e.g. physiological, before satisfying the higher needs such as self-actualisation. These five needs of motivation are evident in Bain and Company. Physiological needs include having enough food, air and water to survive (Kreitner & Kinicki 2010, p. 213). Employees’ at Bain and Company might feel like they’re at risk of losing their job considering the company is in the midst of a recession and yet is recruiting. This fear of not being able to put food on the table can be relieved through manager’s reiterating the fact that their job is secure. Considering it is a recession, it is also possible that employees’ may not be getting paid enough, and therefore management should increase pay in order to develop employees’ potential. Bain and Company may be in the process of recruiting talented people in ‘hot-growth’ areas, but they still must ensure that their employees’ feel safe from physical and psychological harm” (Kreitner & Kinicki 2010, p. 213). This is important for the managers of Bain and Company because employee motivation is fuelled by those unfilled needs. In other words, “satisfied needs are not motivators…and [when] lower level needs are satisfied, they no longer drive behaviour” (Zalenski & Raspa 2006). This is evident within their case- study, where correctional officers would keep their job even though violent inmates surrounded them. Therefore, because the officers felt safe they were not motivated to leave their job. Satisfying an
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