Lee Thayer kicked us off yesterday, mulling over what people miss when they misunderstand the meaning behind a job. Over the next few days, we will talk about jobs and work. What is work? Why people work?
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“Why do people work?” I asked.
Vicki was tentative in her response, looking for the trick in the question. “They work because they need the money,” she finally replied.
“That’s a start. Why do people work?” I repeated.
“They have to support their families.”
“Okay.” Vicki could see I added her response to my mental list. “Why do people work?”
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People work to live. Since most people have to work for approx 40 years what we choose a profession that is both rewarding and provides the means to enable a prefered lifestyle. A job needs to be rewarding to capture our interest and provide self satisfaction since we have to do it for so long. Our job may not be what we want to be doing to make a living but it is the next best thing.
One of the theories that can explain why people work – – This is Maslow’s theory of needs.
FINAL ANSWER – depending on our currant position we work for different reasons- univerally.
Maslow has set up a hierarchy of five levels of basic needs. Beyond these needs, higher levels of needs exist. These include needs for understanding, esthetic appreciation and purely spiritual needs. In the levels of the five basic needs, the person does not feel the second need until the demands of the first have been satisfied, nor the third until the second has been satisfied, and so on. Maslow’s basic needs are as follows:
Physiological Needs
These are biological needs. They consist of needs for oxygen, food, water, and a relatively constant body temperature. They are the strongest needs because if a person were deprived of all needs, the physiological ones would come first in the person’s search for satisfaction.
Safety Needs
When all physiological needs are satisfied and are no longer controlling thoughts and behaviors, the needs for security can become active. Adults have little awareness of their security needs except in times of emergency or periods of disorganization in the social structure (such as widespread rioting). Children often display the signs of insecurity and the need to be safe.
Needs of Love, Affection and Belongingness
When the needs for safety and for physiological well-being are satisfied, the next class of needs for love, affection and belongingness can emerge. Maslow states that people seek to overcome feelings of loneliness and alienation. This involves both giving and receiving love, affection and the sense of belonging.
Needs for Esteem
When the first three classes of needs are satisfied, the needs for esteem can become dominant. These involve needs for both self-esteem and for the esteem a person gets from others. Humans have a need for a stable, firmly based, high level of self-respect, and respect from others. When these needs are satisfied, the person feels self-confident and valuable as a person in the world. When these needs are frustrated, the person feels inferior, weak, helpless and worthless.
Needs for Self-Actualization
When all of the foregoing needs are satisfied, then and only then are the needs for self-actualization activated. Maslow describes self-actualization as a person’s need to be and do that which the person was “born to do.” “A musician must make music, an artist must paint, and a poet must write.” These needs make themselves felt in signs of restlessness. The person feels on edge, tense, lacking something, in short, restless. If a person is hungry, unsafe, not loved or accepted, or lacking self-esteem, it is very easy to know what the person is restless about. It is not always clear what a person wants when there is a need for self-actualization
P.S. not saying it is a perfect theory, but person who is hungry works for a different reason then one who has 5 children to support. Or upper class person who has to find meaning in work – sense of purpose and meaning, inner joy, acchievement, power…
Great Post! but why do you work Tom? You have to enjoy what you do, but i found by working at something that i love only spoils the fun 🙁 any suggestions?
i find the same thing. I sometimes rather treat work as work and things I love separate. Maybe I just like keeping some things private.