In Maslow’s hierarchy theory proposed five-level of
basic needs as Physiological, Safety, love and belonging, Esteem, and
self-actualization (Mohammed, 2019). The ERG Theory was developed between 1961 and 1978 (Caulton, 2012) EFD Theory expanded Maslow’s basic needs (Cheng-Liang Yang,
2011).
According to Mohammed (2019), Alderfer’s ERG Theory divided the motivation in to
three needs. Those are,
- Existence needs
- Relatedness needs
- Growth needs
Existence:
“This level
covers the first two levels of Maslow’s hierarchy (Safety & Physiological
needs). It refers to the need of an individual to stay alive and safe at
present as well as in the future; it suggests that when a person satisfies his
existence needs he feels physically comfortable to strive for the fulfilment of
other needs” (Castellanos, 2014,P.20).
Relatedness:
“This level
covers the third and fourth levels of Maslow’s hierarchy (Social needs &
Self-esteem). It suggests that when an individual feels physiologically safe
and feels secure, the individual then starts looking into fulfilling the social
needs, he/she suddenly becomes interested in maintaining important
interpersonal relationships with other people such as friends, family,
co-workers and employers. Relatedness gives the individual a sense of identity
and acceptance, and thus, the individual experiences a sense of belonging
within his/her immediate society” (Castellanos, 2014,P.20).
Growth:
“Similar to
Maslow’s theory, this level covers the highest level of the hierarchy (Self-
actualization). It suggests that when the individual feels safe, secure and has
recognized his own identity then he can seek to grow by being creative and
productive, by expressing and implementing his own ideas in the working
environment making him feel that his input is an important element in the
achievement of meaningful tasks within the organization” (Castellanos, 2014,P.21).
Figure 1; The concept of ERG theory (Castellanos, 2014)
The theory suggested that when people
are tempted to meet higher-level needs, but there is a problem with doing so, a
person is more motivated to meet lower-level needs. So increasing satisfaction
increases progress and being reactionary leads to difficulties (Mohammed,
2019). If the demand is met with a certain
level of satisfaction, the employee can move on to the next level. However, if
the same requirements are not met, instead of going to a higher level, the
person will fall into lower demand. For example, he felt it was easier for him
if an employee was trying to achieve his own reality. But the opportunities for
growth in the company are limited or empty, he will fall back to the more
relevant and social needs with his colleagues, in that regard it seems easy to
meet that need. The employee will meet less demand until there is an
opportunity to meet more demand (Castellanos,
2014).
As my personal
experience I work to Information technology, biggest service support company in
Srilanka Organization has provided the good salary, incentives and overtime for
minor staff members to the employees as Existences needs. I believe that It was
created a friendly environment to work and management held monthly gathering
with the dinner at outside the office to enrich the team community. It seems
that how organization try to fulfill the Relatedness needs factor. When it
thinks about the growth need management has conducted the weekly meeting with
their subordinates and discussed the next week support plan with them. Respect
to the employee ideas. Conversely it provides special local and foreign
training program under the supervision of principles and try to groomed the
employee’s carrier. Management tries to get creative ideas from subordinates
and try to executive those.
References:
Castellanos, Y. (2014) ‘An Analysis of Motivational
Theories that Could Aid The College Management to Enhance Employee Engagement’,
p. 75. Available at: http://trap.ncirl.ie/1828/1/yokocastellanos.pdf.
Caulton, J. (2012) ‘The development and use of the theory of erg: A
literature review’, Emerging Leadership Journeys, 5(1), pp. 2–8.
Cheng-Liang Yang (2011) ‘An empirical study of the existence, relatedness,
and growth (ERG) theory in consumer’s selection of mobile value-added
services’, African Journal of Business Management, 5(19). doi:
10.5897/ajbm10.1586.
Mohammed, A. (2019) ‘Q : Summarize the motivation theories and its effect
on the employee ’ s satisfaction .’, (September).
Alderfer’s ERG Theory is the extension of Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy, wherein the Maslow’s five needs are categorized into three categories such as Existence Needs, Relatedness Needs, and Growth Needs(Ball, 2012).
ReplyDeleteAccording to Mohammed (2019) Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, It was divided it into main needs internal and external and in between is social. And he arranged it as following
Delete• Physiological needs
• Safety needs
• Social needs
• Esteem needs
• Self-actualization needs
In ERG Theory it was divided in to 3 basic needs, Growth needs, Relatedness needs and Existence needs.
Alderfer's ERG motivation theory is different from Maslow's theory because a lower level need does not have to be gratified, If a relatively more significant need is not gratified, the desire to gratify a lesser need will be increased and Alderfer's ERG theory allows the order of the needs to differ for different people (Yourcoach, 2009).
ReplyDeleteThe theory of ERG is traced from its outgrowth of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs through efforts to further understand and expand its implications. An outgrowth of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, ERG may be used to explain and/or predict workplace issues, relationship paradigms, and personal development choices. (Caulton, 2012).
DeleteThe key difference between Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and ERG theory is ; Maslow’s hierarchy of needs says the needs are met specific order. But ERG theory states met simultaneously and no specific order. The ERG Theory defines that there are variables that can affect the needs of an individual on any stage (O’Connor & Yballe, 2007).
ReplyDeleteAlderfer’s ERG theory is level covers the first two levels of Maslow’s hierarchy (Safety & Physiological needs). It refers to the need of an individual to stay alive and safe at present as well as in the future; it suggests that when a person satisfies his existence needs he feels physically comfortable to strive for the fulfilment of other needs (Castellanos, 2014)
DeleteThe theory of existence, resistance, and growth, commonly known as ERG, is a sub-ject of debate. ERG is a motivational construct concerned with understanding the factors that contribute to individual human behavior. It is one of four content ap-proaches that consider the intrinsic factors that cause a person to take specific ac-tions (Ivancevich, Konopaske, & Matteson, 2008).
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Employee motivation also will benefit the organization in the manner of retention. Recruitment and training is an expensive process in the enterprise A company that retains skilled employees and minimizes turnover will reduce this expense and increase its profits. The best way is to create a corporate culture and cultivate proactive employees. Businesses have a good reputation in good or bad places. If you manage to gain the reputation of the former, you will have a constant stream of people who want to work for the organisation, and those who are working now will hesitate to leave. These factors will contribute to the development of a stable and productive corporate culture (McKee, 2018)
ReplyDeleteYes, Malika Agreed, Retaining employees is one of the most important problems faced by companies facing a competitive environment. The big business challenge is to align your goals with the growing demand for a balanced organizational climate that meets basic human needs and where work is synonymous with personal fulfillment and fulfillment (Silva, Carvalho and Dias, 2019)
DeleteMotivation is simply the process of directing someone's behaviour. Motivating people is all about getting them to act in a certain way wherein organizations in ways it can bring more productivity. Well-motivated individuals are more likely to be engaged in the job and performing better and that is the major reason why leaders should understand different ways of driving that morale (Armstrong, 2009).
ReplyDeleteSome difference ERG Theory has from Maslow's theory are; while in Maslow’s theory needs are approached on a step by step basis, in there is no explanation of frustration-regression principle, but in ERG the frustration-regression principle states if upper-level needs are unsatisfied or unfulfilled, people become frustrated and return to pursue lower level again (Maharjan, 2018).
ReplyDelete