One common fear is the fear of failing. Once one is comfortable with one thing or another, he or she will fear to fail in a filed of new responsibilities due to pride they have. One prefers to maintain his status quo because incompetence and poor service delivery is a sign of weakness and it is so demoralizing.
Contrary to fear of failure is the fear of success, when one is successful, a lot of social capital in terms of recognition is experienced. Lots of attention is given to you and the pressure is felt. One therefore will be resistant to change not because he fears success but opted to remain simple and be with the same people since success makes one different and the social status will change or rise.
No one would like to be criticized for what he or she does. Fear to be criticized is another factor that makes people finds difficulty to change or accept changes. We care so much about what others think about us, for instance when one decides to leave drinking, he will be fearful of what is friends would think of him or her hence filling criticized and lonely. When one develops such an attitude it becomes difficult for one to embrace change.
Some other factors include fear of anything different or new where one is not sure of what to do. Also there is fear of discomfort and suffering and even effort needed to perform the task. The fact that this fear is not easy to get rid off makes one to be more rigid to the change.
ABRAHAM MASLOW HIERARCHY OF NEEDS
Abraham Maslow was a psychologist and belonged to a humanistic school of thought. He came up with his theory of hierarchy of needs where he manages to utilize psychological terms like physiological needs, Need for safety, need for love and belonging, need for self esteem and at the apex is the need for self actualization. Therefore Maslow hierarchy of needs is a theory that was developed by Abraham Maslow to describe the pattern that motivates human being to achieve there general demands.
At the bottom of the hierarchy are the physiological needs. These are the physical basic necessities than human being needs to survive. The need for food, water, sex, sleep, shelter, air, execration and all other basic needs are the motivating factor at this level. When all this needs are met, man then seeks to move to the next level. When these physiological needs are not met, man will ever remain aggressive trying to satisfy these needs since he cannot survive without them. Note when I use man I mean the entire human race both male and female.
At the second level is need for safety. When physical needs are relatively satisfied, man tend to seek for security of employment, the family, body, resources, good health, safety of properties and even morality. All these are the motivating factor here. Absence of this physical safety due to domestic violence, war or even natural disasters may cause man to experience disorders like the common post-traumatic stress disorders. Economic absence due to crisis and poor economic status and joblessness leads to job security creation to deal with the issue.
At the third level after the safety needs have been fulfilled is the need for love and belonging. This involves need for friendship, need for sexual intimacy and family. Man need to feel a sense of acceptability and belong among the social group for instance religious groups, clubs and societies and even sports team. Man needs both to be sexually and non-sexually loved by others for absence of these leads man to loneliness, depression and even social anxiety develops. Studies shows that when this need of love and belonging is satisfied, it can even overcome both the physiological and safety needs but this depends on the strength of group or peer pressure.
At the fourth level of the hierarchy is the need of self-esteem. The need of every man to be respected, need for confidence, achievement and the need to respect others is what motivates one at this level. Self-esteem presents desire to be valued and accepted by others. Psychological imbalances in human life may be experienced when there is low self-self esteem which leads to depression. Maslow epics two types of esteem, that is, lower and higher versions of esteem. The lower version is where there is that need for respect from others for instance need for recognition, status or seeking for attention. As for the higher version, there is need for self respect, for instance need for freedom, self confidence, or need for independence
At the apex of the hierarchy is the need for self-actualization. This level refers to the full potential of a person and full realization of that particular potential. The motivating factors here include creativity, problem solving, and acceptance of facts, morality and lack of prejudice just to mention but few. At this level the most one can be is accomplished. When one attains this level, he is said to be self actualized and he or she can be what he or she must be.
When people knows they are part of the experiment and are being watched over, their means of working is perfected and they produce their best instead. To ensure that persons are striving towards the apex of the Maslow hierarchy of needs, a lot of motivation must be impacted by the management. For example to ensure that the land mower does his best job, the supervisor should get the right tools for the right task at the right place and at the right time. The management should also provide the workers with clear and written instructions specifying exact time to complete each element of work. Not to forgetting the economic incentives to induce workers to complete their work perfectly. On doing this, employee is elevated and can see the opportunity before them and strive towards it hence raising their levels.
References
Bruce Barcott (2005). "'State of Fear': Not So Hot". (2nd ed.) New York City. The New York Times Publishing. p. 56.
Goble, F. (2006). The third force: The psychology of Abraham Maslow. (3rd ed.) Richmond, CA: Maurice Bassett Publishing. p.256.
Tay, L., & Diener, E. (2011). Needs and subjective well-being around the world. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 5 pg. (2).
