Abraham Maslow was a clinical psychologist of USA and his theory of individual need is probably the most popular one. Maslow has suggested that have a complex set of needs which are exceptionally strong and the behaviour of individuals at a given time is generally determined by the strongest needs of the individual. Psychologist believe that human needs have a priority and first of all basic needs are satisfied and then the individual tries to satisfy his higher needs. In case the basic needs remain unfulfilled all efforts for satisfying higher needs also have to be postponed. Maslow has given five basic levels of the needs of individuals which they try to satisfy in a Hierarchical order. Maslow has proposed that these needs can be arranged starting from the lowest level and moving towards the needs of the highest level. This hierarchy of individual needs is explained by Maslow as mentioned below:

(i) Physiological needs: The physiological needs of individual are the starting step for the need based theory of motivation. Physiological needs are the strongest needs of the individuals. These include the basic bodily needs including food, water, air, shelter, clothing and other necessity of life. Individuals try to satisfies these basic needs first of all and then only they move towards the satisfaction of the second level needs

(ii) Safety needs: The second level of needs comprises the safety and securities needs. Once the physiological needs are satisfied upto a reasonable level individuals make efforts to satisfied their second level needs. Here it should be noted that the reasonable satisfaction of physiological needs is a subjective matter and the level of reasonable satisfaction varies from person to person. In the modern civilized society individual are generally protected from threats of violence or physical danger and the safety and security needs include economic and job security, security regarding the source of income, insurance against risk, provisions for old age and other protected measures which can safeguards the satisfaction of physiological needs in future also.

(iii) Social needs: After the fulfillment of second level needs human beings make effort to satisfy social needs. Human being are social animals and they always strive to belong to a social group to fulfill their emotional needs of love, affection, friendship and warmth. These social needs can be satisfied by individuals when they are in the company of their friends, relatives or any other group like a voluntary group or a work group.

(iv) Esteem needs: Ego or self esteem needs are the fourth needs in this hierarchy. These needs are related with recognition, self respect, self confidence, prestige, applause, appreciation, power and control. Through the fulfillment of these needs and individuals achieves a sense of ego satisfaction and self worth.

(v) Self Actualization needs: These needs are at the top of this hierarchy. These include the need to fulfill what is considered by a person as the mission of his life. The desire for personal achievement arises after all other needs of the individual are satisfied. At this stage the person is looking for something challenging as it gives him initiative and enough push to work and is beneficial for the individual as well as the society. This sense of achievement provides and individual psychological sense of satisfaction.
In this way Maslow has suggested five levels of needs which he has arranged in a hierarchy. When one need is satisfied it no longer remain a motivating factor and after the satisfaction of one level of needs the next level needs emerge which seek to be satisfied. The physiological and security needs of individuals are limited but other needs of the higher order are unlimited. These needs are more likely to be dominant among the persons functioning at a higher level in the organizations. Maslow suggests that the various levels of needs are interdependent and overlapping. The next level of needs emerge after the complete satisfaction of lower level needs.

Motivation causes goal directed behavior for example when a person strongly feels the need of something he will behave in such a way that he will try to satisfy himself so that he does not feel the lack of that particular thing. A human need creates tension in the mind of the individual and this need transforms itself into want depending upon the environment. Again, there will be tension in the mind which will be satisfied only by a particular behavior of the individual which will release the tension. That particular behavior may be caused by the incentives, which exist to satisfy the need. Satisfaction of one need will lead to the feeling of another different need or the same need at an interval of Thus, this process is a continuous one.

However, if the need is not satisfied because of some reasons, the person may feel frustration. Frustration can be defined as the accumulation of stress because of non-fulfillment of needs. At this stage, the person will try to amend his behavior to eliminate factors responsible for non-fulfillment of his needs in one particular situation only. There will be numerous such factors, which will be beyond his control. Thus, the situation can be that he is in a position to remove his frustration by satisfaction of needs.

Frustration is not an ideal situation for an individual, so he will change this situation by choosing some alternative behavior. As human beings are different from each other, this type of behavior will not be uniform. Some common forms of behavior are :

1. Aggression – A person who is denied the need satisfaction may aggressive. Different forms of aggression may be displacement (attacking source of frustration or towards some other object), Negativism resistance operating consciously or unconsciously) and fixation

2. Withdrawal – Another way of overcoming frustration is withdrawal from the scene physically or psychologically. The different forms of withdrawal may be fantasy, regression or flight.

3. Compromise – The individual try to compromise the situation. Various forms of compromise may be identification, projection, rationalization or formation.

Motivation techniques are selected by the organization for improving the performance of the employees. While some techniques may be most suitable in some organizations, some other techniques work better in other. Every management tries to select certain motivational techniques which can be employed for improving performance of its employees. The techniques may be suitably employed in one concern, others may be useful in another concern and so on. Motivational techniques may be classified into two categories i.e., financial and non-financial. Both the categories of motivation are discussed as under.

A. Financial Motivators :
Financial motivators may be in the form of more wages and salaries, bonuses, profit-sharing, leave with pay, medical reimbursements, company paid insurance or any of the other things that may be given to employees for performance. The economists and most managers consider money and financial incentives as important motivators. Behavioral scientists, on the other hand, tend to place them low. Neither view is probably right.

Money is the most important to people who are young and are raising their families then to those who have aligned at a stage when money needs are less. Money needs go on changing from time to time. He may like to have a comfortable house later on. For some persons money remains to be a motivator and for others it may never be. Accordingly to Gellerman money is actually used to retain people in the organization and not primarily to motivate them. To attract good persons an organization will have to offer better wages.

Generally, persons engaged in some type of work are offered equal wages. It is seen as a practice that persons are comparable levels get the same or usually the same compensation. Under such circumstances money tends to be dulled as a motivator. Besides all this money can motivate people if their wages are related to their performance.

B. Non-financial Motivators :
These motivators are in the nature of better status, recognition, participation, job security etc. Some of these motivators are discussed here :

1. Recognition: Every person wants his work to be recognized by his
superiors. When he knows that his performance is known to his boss then he will try to improve it more and more. The recognition may be in the form of a word of praise, a pat on the back, a word of praise, a latter of appreciation, entry in annual confidential report etc. There may also be awards, certificates plaque etc. The recognition may be for better output, saving the time, improving quality of products, suggestions for better ways of doing things etc.

These types of recognitions will act as motivator. If the performance of persons is not recognized and everybody treated on the same footing then good persons will not like to put their best efforts.

2. Participation: Participation has been considered a good technique for motivation. It implies physical and mental involvement of people in decision- making process. It satisfies ego and self-esteem of persons. They feel important when asked to made suggestions in their field of activity. There is no doubt that most of the people know the problems they will face and their possible solutions. Participation results in motivation and knowledge valuable for the enterprise success. Participation gives a sense of affiliation and accomplishment. It certainly acts as motivator.
Participation should not mean that managers should abdicate their positions. They should encourage subordinates to participate in matters where they can help. Managers should listen to various View-points and then take decisions themselves.

3. Status: It refers to a social status of a person and it satisfies egoistic needs. A management may create some status symbols in the organization. This can be done by way of giving various facilities to the persons. These may be superior furniture, carpets on the flood, attachment of peons, personal assistant etc. To get these facilities a person will have to show a certain amount of performance. When a person achieves certain facilities then he tries to get better status by working more. In this way status needs act as motivator.

4. Competition:In some organizations competition is used as a motivator. Various persons are given certain objectives and everybody tries to achieve them ahead of others. There may be praises, appreciation letters or financial incentives for those who achieve the goals first. The competition encourages persons to improve their performance.

5. Job Enrichment: Job enrichment has been recognized as an important motivator by various researches. The job is made more important and challenging for the workers, may be given wide latitude in deciding about their work methods. The employees will also perform the management functions of planning and control so far as the work is concerned. Job enrichment provides an opportunity for the psychological growth of the employees. Within a framework, the employee is given a free-hand to decide and perform the work. It brings more job satisfaction and high morale. It is a recognized device of motivating the employees.

Management tries to utilize all the sources of production in a best possible manner. This can be achieved only when employees co-operative in this task. Efforts should be made to motivate employees for contributing their maximum. The efforts of management will not bear fruit if the employees are not encouraged to work more. The motivated employees become an asset to the organization. The following in the importance of motivation.

1. High Performance : Motivated employees will put maximum efforts for achieving organizational goals. The untapped reservoirs, physical and mental abilities are tapped to the maximum. Better performance will also result in higher productivity. The cost of production can also be brought down if productivity is raised. The employees should be offered more incentives for increasing their performance. Motivation will act as a stimulant for improving the performance of employees.

2. Low Employee Turnover and Absenteeism : When the employees are not satisfied with their job then they will leave it whenever they get an alternative offer. The dissatisfaction among employees also increases absenteeism. The employment training of new employees costs dearly to the organization. When the employees are satisfied with their jobs and they are well motivated by offering them financial and non-financial incentives then they will not leave the job. The rate of absenteeism will also be low because they will try to increase their output.

3. Better of Organizational Image : Those enterprises which offer better monetary and non monetary facilities to their employees have a better image among them. Such concerns are successful in attracting better qualified and experienced persons. Since there is a better man-power to development programme, the employees will like to join such organizations. Motivational efforts will simplify personnel function also.

4. Better Industrial Relations : A good motivational system will create job satisfaction among employees. The employment will offer them better service conditions and various other incentives. There will be an atmosphere of confidence among employers and employees. There will be no reason for conflict and cordial relations among both sides will create a health atmosphere. So motivation among employees will lead to better industrial relations.

5. Acceptability to Change : The changing social and industrial situations will require changes and improvements in the working enterprises. There will be a need to introduce new and better methods of work from time to time. Generally, employees resist changes for fear of an adverse effect on their employment. When the employees are given various opportunities of development then they can easily adapt to new situations. They will think of positive side of new changes and will co-operate with the management. If the employees are satisfied with their work and are not offered better avenues then they will oppose everything suggested by the management. Motivation will ensure the acceptability of new changes by the employees.

Motivation is a psychological phenomena which generates within an individual. A person feels the lack of certain needs, to satisfy which he feels working more. The need satisfying ego motivates a person to do better than he normally does. From definitions given earlier the following inferences can be derived :

1. Motivation is an inner feeling which energizes a person to work more.
2. The emotions or desires of a person prompt him for doing a particular work.
3. There are unsatisfied needs of a person which disturb his equilibrium.
4. A person moves to fulfill his unsatisfied needs by conditioning his energies.
5. There are dormant energies in a person which are activated by channelizing them into actions.

Types of Motivation :
When a manager wants to get more work from his subordinates then he will have to motivate them for improving their performance. They will either be offered incentive for more work, or may be in the space of rewards, better reports, recognition etc., or he may instill fear in them or use force for getting desired work. The following are the types of motivation :

1. Positive Motivation: Positive motivation or incentive motivation is based on reward. The workers are offered incentive or achieving the desired goals. The incentives may be in the shape of more pay, promotion, recognition of work etc. The employees are offered the incentives and try to improve their performance willingly. According to Peter Drucker, the real and positive motivators are responsible for placement, high standard of performance information adequate for self-control and the participation of the worker as a responsible citizen in the plant community.” Positive motivation is achieved by the co-operation of employees and they have a feeling of happiness.

2. Negative Motivation : Negative or fear motivation is based on force or fear. Fear cause employees to act in a certain way. In case, they do not act accordingly then they may be punished with demotions or lay-offs. The fear acts as a push mechanism. The employees do not willingly co-operate, rather they want to avoid the punishment. Though employees work upto a level where punishment is avoided but this type of motivation causes anger and frustration. This type of motivation generally becomes a cause of industrial unrest.

In spite of the drawbacks of negative motivation, this method is commonly used to achieve desired results. There may be hardly any management which has not used negative motivation at one or the other time.