The Maslow Hierarchy of Needs focuses on the business community more than any other facet of life. Conflicts are often prevalent in the business world because the people involved are typically in varying stages of life. The dichotomy between the lives of the entry-level employee (just starting out in life) and the middle manager (who may be more settled) can effect these conflicts.

The previous example clearly shows how employees at different points in the Maslow hierarchy are at very different places. When someone is just scraping by and having difficulty meeting their most basic physiological and safety needs, the stress level is very high and worrisome. When someone is under extreme levels of stress, his or her work will certainly deteriorate in both productivity and quality.

There are three basic needs one must meet in order to provide focus in the workplace; having secured a dwelling, loving family, and sufficient amount of money to provide for the basics. Usually if you have these basic needs you will excel over others without them. This makes it easier to focus during a normal workday.

For this reason, the best interests of the business are served by hiring employees only after a rigorous interview process, ensuring that they have the most stability in their life. The Maslow theory indicates that employees in the self-actualization and esteem stages are the ones that should be most sought after and hired. Those that have reached these stages generally tend to have others most clearly in mind when they are working.

People at the esteem stage make the best employees, since their largest goal is to gain recognition and praise. At work they have a perfect outlet for this, generating superior work and trying to get along well with others in the workplace. Their competitive spirit also kicks in at full steam at work, and healthy competition increases the bottom line and team spirit.

Employees that have reached the self-actualization stage are generally very useful employees as well. They tend to stay focused on the job in front of them, and they also have a greater sense of their self-worth, and thus tend to be of a more calm demeanor. They also tend to have overcome the majority of the minor struggles in life, making them more stable. Another aspect of what makes these employees more valuable is that they are at the peak of the pyramid, so even if they had a backslide, they would still remain higher than those who haven't reached these levels, and they would remain a confident and efficient worker.

The Maslow theory has proven useful in many facets of life, but perhaps the business world most importantly. A thorough review of business will find that the more competent, focused, efficient employees on staff, the better the ultimate success of the business. And what better way to secure this success than to hire members of the workforce who embody traits enabled by the top tier of Maslow's pyramid.

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Daiv Russell is a marketing and management consultant with Envision Web Promotion. Read more Management Articles, learn about Abraham Harold Maslow and Maslow's needs hierarchy.

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