A study of perceived need satisfactions in bottom and middle management jobs

How do management perceptions of need satisfaction and importance vary by level of management? 139 supervisors and middle management individuals in 3 companies were sent a questionnaire constructed to measure needs in a hierarchy compared to one described by Maslow. Middle managers fulfilled, more often than did bottom managers, needs for esteem, security, and autonomy. "The highest-order need of self-actualization is the most critical need area of those studied, in terms of both perceived deficiency in fulfillment and perceived importance to the individual, in both bottom and middle management." From Psyc Abstracts 36:02:2LI01P.