The Maslow Business Reader

Includes Original Essays & Letters "The more evolved and psychologically healthy people get, the more will enlightened management policy be necessary in order to survive in competition and the more handicapped will be an enterprise with an authoritarian policy."-Abraham Maslow In a world in which each new day brings a new management theory or strategic proposition, the timeless ideas of Abraham Maslow resonate with unimpeachable insight and clarity. Dr. Maslow, the pioneer behind elemental concepts including the hierarchy of needs and the human search for self-actualization, innately understood that the goals and passions that so impact humans in their everyday life could be just as applicable-and his own findings just as valuable-in the work environment. The Maslow Business Reader collects Maslow's essays and letters for his many devoted adherents, and introduces his published and unpublished works to readers unfamiliar with Maslow's management breakthroughs. From recognizing and warning against management's natural progression to mechanize the human organization to brilliant discussions of human motivation, Dr. Maslow never fails to instantly recognize the heart and soul of each matter and provide direct, across-the-board solutions. Abraham Maslow's contributions to behavioral science shine on every page. In notes and articles, as well as personal letters to icons B. F. Skinner, John D. Rockefeller II, and others, The Maslow Business Reader provides his outlook on: * Management and leadership issues such as customer loyalty, entrepreneurship, and the importance of communication * Ways to build a work environment conducive to creativity, innovation, and maximized individual contributions * Techniques for finding comfort in change and ambiguity, and using them to spur creativity and innovation Amid today's impressive technological innovations, business leaders sometimes forget that work is-at its core-a fundamental human endeavor. The Maslow Business Reader reminds us of Dr. Abraham Maslow's towering contribution to the understanding of human behavior and motivation, and how his efforts can lead to a greater understanding of the twenty-first-century workplace-and the workers who call it home. An important analysis of workplace motivation-from the twentieth century's most influential behavioral expert Abraham Maslow is renowned-and rightfully so-for his pioneering work on the hierarchy of needs and the human drive for self-actualization. As today's worker increasingly equates professional success with personal satisfaction and fulfillment, Dr. Maslow's words and ideas have become recognized for their wisdom and prescience on performance improvement and management/employee relationships. The Maslow Business Reader collects Abraham Maslow's most instructive, intuitive thoughts and essays into one important volume. Assembled from the wealth of behavioral research and analysis Dr. Maslow left upon his death in 1970, the enclosed selections reveal a man comfortable with his position in history, tireless in his efforts to better understand what truly makes humans strive to reach their potential, and gifted in his ability to translate the most profound concepts and realities into entertaining, thought-provoking prose. Abraham Maslow is still regarded as the modern world's most articulate, insightful authority on human behavior and motivation. Discover his beliefs and conclusions on worker drives and motivations-as applicable today as when they were first written-in The Maslow Business Reader.

Table of Contents:
SELF-ACTUALIZING WORK. The Hierarchy of Needs. The Attitude of Self-Actualizing People to Duty, Work, Mission. Additional Notes on Self-Actualization, Work, Duty, and Mission. Self-Actualized Duty. Creativity in Self-Actualizing People. Some Basic Propositions of Growth and Self-Actualization Psychology. Notes on Self-Esteem in the Workplace. The Human Side of Enterprise. The American Dynamic. Dangers of Self-Actualization. MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP ISSUES. The Necessity for Enlightened Management Policies. The Good Enlightened Salesman and Customer. Further Notes on Salesmen and Customers. Managerial Stuff. Memorandum on Salesmen and Salesmanship. Notes on the Entrepreneur. By-Products of Enlightened Management. Leaders, Pawns, and Power. Communication: Key to Effective Management. The Dynamics of American Management. Theory Z. CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION. The Creative Attitude. A Holistic Approach to Creativity. Emotional Blocks to Creativity. The Need for Creative People. Notes on Creativeness. Addition to the Notes on the Creative Person. Our Aesthetic Needs: Exploratory Notes. MOTIVATION AND BEHAVIOR. A Theory of Human Motivation. Is All Behavior Motivated? Deficiency Motivation and Growth Motivation. Management as a Psychological Experiment. The Jonah Complex: Understanding Our Fear of Growth. Epilogue. Index.

About the Author :
The late ABRAHAM H. MASLOW is the world's most widely renowned expert on human behavior and motivation. Dr. Maslow has contributed seminal works to the literature of business, applying his ideas on human behavior, personality, and motivation to the workforce. DEBORAH C. STEPHENS is the co-founder of the Center for Innovative Leadership. She is the coauthor of One Size Fits One and Douglas McGregor, Revisited and the collaborator on Maslow on Management.