A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write if they are to be ultimately at peace with themselves. What an individual can be, they must be. This need we may call self-actualization… It refers to the desire for self-fulfillment, namely, to the tendency for them to become actualized in what they are potentially.
Academics and practitioners have been debating the merits on how to select the “right” person for a given role and how best to integrate labor into an organization for well over a 100 years. As the first large businesses began to form in the early 1900s, the focus was on building processes and systems first and then fitting people into them to achieve maximum efficiency. Frederick Taylor, considered the first business consultant, was the inventor of this “systems- based approach” and documented them in his book “Principles of Scientific Management.”
While there are historical examples of implementations of his “Scientific Management” ethos leading to increases in output and efficiency, it created, unsurprisingly, distrust and conflict between labor and management. In general, Labor felt it devalued workers and relegated them to replaceable cogs. Management countered that “labor” was more interested in setting output at levels consistent with the least capable among then the maximizing performance. In reality, both cases could be reasonably argued.
A counter-balanced, “people”-centric approach started to emerge by the 1920s arguing that taking into consideration the social and psychological needs of workers would lead to improved performance and more efficient execution. Elton Mayo’s pioneering research outlined several factors found to motivate workers to perform their best including communication, recognition, support and working conditions. However enlightened this approach appears in retrospect, the end goal was still to increase the output of the firm – not to create a more self-fulfilled workforce.
The second half of the 20th century saw the emergence of new philosophies (ie TQM/Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing and its software equivalent “Agile” development being some of the more recent ones) but the goal remained the same – more efficient, smarter, better, faster execution. However, as “knowledge work” has become the main driver of the most innovative and vibrant parts of our economy (Technology, Healthcare, Renewables, Finance) the attitude towards worker performance (and fulfillment) is evolving.
Moving forward, employee expectations are evolving quickly especially in the most dynamic parts of our economy. Worker attitudes have moved closer to Maslow’s vision and unlocking their potential to drive innovation has come into focus. They expect to be nurtured, coached, celebrated and rewarded consistently.
Successful companies will need to create compelling missions and design interesting work to support it; build a rigorous selection process that consistently matches people to roles that will see them succeed; while building a culture where they feel seen, valued and rewarded. And whether you feel, as Maslow did, that fulfilling work is a key to self-actualization, your employees’ success will determine your success.
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