Maslows Hierarchy of Human Needs Abraham Maslow developed the hierarchy of human needs.

Accordingly, mans needs influence to great extent productivity, the feeling of belongingness to the organization, and the attainment of self-

actualization. It is in hierarchical order because on the average, man must fulfill or satisfy the lower needs before he can satisfy higher needs. There are at least three major tiers in the theory. These are the physical and safety needs, social needs, and self-actualization needs. These are further divided into specific needs to be associated and to be loved, and the last and highest, comprises the need for self-esteem and self actualization, also comprise the psycho-social needs, which are higher than physiological or biological needs. Some psychologists have focused their attention on the development of self (Rogers, 1959; Maslow, 1954, 1971). They explore those aspects of our daily experiences and feelings that give rise to a sense of personal existence. One of the leading proponents of self theory, Abraham Maslow, believed that human beings are fundamentally good. If encouraged rather than suppressed, he argued, we can lead, happy, healthy, and fruitful lives. Observe that if these assumptions are proven true, they promise a scientific ethics, a natural value system, a court of ultimate appeal for the determination of good and bad, of right and wrong. The more we learn about mans natural tendencies, the easier it will be to tell him how to be good, how to be happy, how to be fruitful, how to respect himself, how to love, how

to fulfill his highest potentiality. This amounts to automatic solution of many of the personality problems of the future. The thing to do seems to be is to find out what you are really like inside, deep down, as a member of the human species and as a particular individual (Maslow, 1962). Human life is a struggle against frustration, ignorance, suffering, evil, the maddening inertia of things in general; but it is also a struggle for something.And fulfillment seems to describe better than any other single word the positive side of human development and human evolution-the realization of inherent capacities by the individual and of new possibilities by the race; the satisfaction of needs, spiritual as well as material; the emergence of new qualities of experience to be enjoyed; the building of personalities (Huxley, 1953). The concept of self-actualization is a key element in Maslows theory. Self-actualization refers to the tendency to strive for the realization of ones full potential. Maslow developed a pyramid that describes an entire hierarchy of human needs. When the needs at the bottom level are satisfied, the individual is free to seek satisfaction of the needs at the next level. Thus when the basic physiological needs are satisfied, the person may direct his or her attention to achieving safety. Self-actualization needs are at the top of the needs hierarchy. Unfortunately, although many of us may dream of self-actualizing, it remains for most of us a high peak that we only approach and rarely scale (Haber, 1983).