Friday, May 22, 2015
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Characteristics & behavior of Self-Actualized people
Maslow’s theory of hierarchy of need can not be
completed without mentioning the characteristics & behaviours of
Self-Actualized people. My last post was about the importance of
self-actualization with regards to work situation and how marketers effectively
use this theory of hierarchy of need to promote their products and offerings,
while in this post I would highlight the 15 characteristics & behavioural
aspects of self-actualized people.
Theoretically,
every one of us is capable of self-actualization but most of us will not do. According
to Abraham Maslow, only about 2 percent of people can reach the state of
self-actualization. He studied 18 people he considered to be self-actualized to
identify 15 characteristics of a self-actualized people. These are mentioned
below:
- They accept themselves and others as they are
- Spontaneous in thought and action
- Perceive reality and tolerate uncertainty
- Problem solver
- Highly creative
- Unusual sense of humor
- Able to look at life objectively
- Concerned for welfare of society
- Appreciating life-experience
- Resistance to enculturation
- Establish deep satisfying interpersonal relationships with a few people
- Peak experiences
- Need for privacy
- Democratic attitude
- Strong ethical values
Though, it is not necessary to display all the 15
characteristics to become self-actualized and not only self-actualized people
will display them, yet people achieve self-actualization in their unique way
and tend to share certain characteristics. Self-actualization is a matter of
degree and merely involves achieving ones potential. At this point, it becomes
imperative to know about the behavious leading to self-actualization which is
highlighted below:
- · Living life like a child with full absorption and concentration· Trying off the beaten path· Banking on own feelings instead of voice of tradition· Being honest and avoid pretence· Take responsibility and ownership and work hard· Do not follow the horde
Despite many limitations of Maslow’s hierarchy of need
theory, this is still very popular with advertisers and marketers all across
the globe. I am not going to critically evaluate the drawbacks as my only
purpose of highlighting this theory was to bring to fore the characteristics
and behaviours that are shared and display by such people so that many of us
can at least try to achieve what we want to achieve.
Thank you all for the love you are
showing to me. Hope you will continue to read my post and yes, your comments
are most appreciated and welcomed.
Saturday, May 16, 2015
Need for Self Actualization – Maslow’s hierarchy theory of Needs
Have we ever realized why self actualization is so
important for every individual, be it a professional or a house wife, a
mid-level employee or retired elderly people? Every individual one time or
other in his life span faces this situation. This is a situation of dejection,
despondency, stagnancy and perhaps lack of esteem and self confidence. This
happens only when we fail to see beyond our surroundings surrendering ourselves
to the circumstances prevailing around. This is the time we need to delve more
into ourselves and do a self realization.
This reminds me of Maslow’s hierarchy theory of needs which is a
stepping-stone for motivating and inspiring individuals to attain and achieve
what they aspire.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory states that
people have a pyramid hierarchy of needs that they will satisfy from bottom to
top. Stating from a mere subsistence to safety & security to belonging to
social circle to self esteem to following your dream through self
actualization. Important to the
hierarchy of needs theory is that the needs on the lower ladder have to be
fulfilled in order to climb up the 5 level ladder. The levels are:
Ø
Biological & Physiological needs- air, food,
shelter, drink, sleep, sex
Ø
Safety & Security needs- law & order,
security (both financial & social), stability
Ø
Love & belonging needs- affection &
love, from work group, family, friends,
Ø
Esteem needs- achievement, mastery, prestige,
self respect
Ø
Self actualization needs-realizing personal
potential, self-fulfillment
According to Abraham Maslow, human motivation is
based on people seeking fulfillment and change through personal growth and self
actualized people are those who are fulfilled and doing all they are capable
of. In self actualization, a person comes to find a meaning of life that is
important to him.
Despite many drawbacks in Maslow’s theory, this
still has a wide application in personal and work life. Many marketers and
advertisers have used this motivation theory to promote their offerings and
products with messages aimed at aspiring potential customers to achieve what
they want to, While organizations/corporate follow this for retaining and
grooming talented employees. In this post, I will restrict my discussion with
regards to work life situations and marketing aspects.
The pyramid of needs is divided into two categories
for work situations: deficiency needs (including physiological & safety
needs) and growth needs (including belonging, self esteem and self
actualization). Applying this theory to work situation, it implies that
organizations have the responsibility to ensure that the deficiency needs are
met first. This means, a safe work environment and an adequate wage. Secondly,
it implies creating a work environment in which employees can develop their
fullest potential and do whatever they aspire to be. Failure to do so would
increase employee frustration which could result in poor performance, lower job
satisfaction and increased attrition. There are many potential ways of
satisfying employee needs. Some of these are easy and inexpensive to follow,
while others are hard and costly. Also, the employees’ needs may vary. However,
if organizations manage to implement at least some of them, they would be
looked at as more considerate, supportive and interested in people’s welfare
and this would be a milestone in setting up an example of CSR. Ultimately,
every, organization works with human and
for human.
Another wide application that Maslow’s theory of
needs finds is with the marketers and advertisers. They have been using this
effectively for evoking in their potential customers the feeling to achieve and
do what they really want to do. One of the recent ads that remind me of using
theory of needs is the one from Idea Internet Network. The ad shows a boy,
aspiring to be an engineer denied admission by college and forced by his father
to join their bakery business. The boy seemed dejected and
De-motivated but perhaps has not lost his desire to
excel in life. Here comes one of the greatest ads from Idea. The boy found a
new life in Idea Internet Network 3G, a new way to educated himself through
Idea Internet. Ultimately he surpassed everyone expectations and criticism and
successfully made a drone which he wanted to make. He proudly called himself
the student of IIN (Idea Internet Network).This ad explicitly targeting those
people who have a strong desire to excel in life despite all the odds by evoking
in them the importance of self actualization.
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Friday, May 8, 2015
Target it to the right customers the right way-India Ka Tyohaar IPL 2015
Just 11 days after the Cricket World
Cup came to a close, IPL 8, 2015 got going. That means more cricket for another
6 weeks. There were many speculations rife with the success of this edition of IPL
as compared to the previous editions as people have been over dosed with
cricket already in the form of recently concluded world cup in Australia and
New Zealand.
However, the TV ratings and the
Google search analytics have a different story to tell-the gist of which comes
down to this- cricket is still being watched and searched like crazy. According
to numbers released by TAM, the first five matches of the current IPL were
sampled by 105 million unique viewers, which means a 9 percent increase
compared to IPL 7 (2014). As for the TV ratings, the jump is a whopping 42
percent –up to 4.5 from 3.1. Overall 39 percent tuned to watched IPL 8.
The reason for the overwhelming
success of this year IPL is the way it is marketed and advertised. The key to success among many factors is the
right targeting and with a right message. The right target-the whole of
India-all demographics included and the right message-India Ka Tyohaar.
IPL theme song India Ka Tyohaar
matches perfectly with the mood of country as cricket is no less than a
festival here. The advertisement sees different communities; age groups,
different fraternity etc get together and celebrate cricket as a line in the
song goes “ Doriyan Chhod Ke, dekho dil jodh ke” . The video showcases how
cricket binds India and lessens the generation gap in the process, with kids
and elders enjoying the showpiece event.
So, in order to make a product
stand out or to make it a brand , it should be targeted to the right customers and should backed by appropriate messages. IPL has many such marketing
and advertisement campaigns in past that have managed to move, motivate and
influenced people that have made IPL only a few brands from India known world
over. Hope this trends continue and we
may see many more such campaigns in future.
Thank you all for reading this article. For many more such marketing related articles, please visit www.marketingexpertservices.com. Hope you have liked that. I would be coming soon with another article.
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