I must respond to Sherri Malouf's comments on the Maslow discussion..
**snip**
> >
> In summary -- why are you folks all so stuck on curing a model that has
> been disproven and that I am told the author has said isn't valid?
>
>
Sherri's question brings to mind a wonderful Deming quote I picked up off
of this list--
"All models are wrong, but some are useful."
I believe Maslow's model remains in frequent use and reference, despite
its weaknesses, because it's larger meaning and essential dynamics have
much validity, and because Maslow provided a much-needed reframing of the
issue of human motivation. Maslow wrote at a time when psychologists were
inclined to treat human motivation as essentially the same as animals,
(i.e. variations of carrot-stick) and his larger point was that we needed
a more complex model to capture the essentials of human motivation.
Whether or not we now wish to argue the fine points of sequence and
exclusivity, Maslow's identification of social, esteem, ego, and
self-actualization needs became a cornerstone of the human-relations
movement in management theory (McGregor based his entire explication of
Theory X and Y on Maslow), and set off a revolution in thinking about
organizations.
We continue to refer to Maslow because his ideas are still useful and will
continue to be so as long as human beings are inclined to operate on the
basis of Theory X assumptions about others. This is very similar to the
Freudian phenomenon in which, although Freud's particular focus on
sexuality has been largely rejected, the larger dynamics of his model
(involving conscious and unconscious intrapsychic processes) continue to
dominate our thinking. This because these concepts are extremely useful,
and because they presented a significant departure from past thinking.
I suppose we ignore McClelland's work on motivation because, in relation
to Maslow, it does not add that much and does not invalidate the most
significant aspects of Maslow.
Finally, with respect to the issue of linear thinking, the need to decide
whether a model is "right" or "wrong" is itself a most extreme form of
linearity. One of the important aspect of creative thinking, and, I might
add, of learning organizations, is the ability to "take what you like and
leave the rest."
--Lee Holmer <llh@seattleu.edu>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>