Clayton Alderfer, another relation of Maslow, is also looking for an adapted version of motivation in the workplace.
He proposes three categories of needs:
The big difference with Maslow's theory is that ERD is not hierarchical.
The three categories are equivalent and can act simultaneously and individually.
In 1972, when Maslow's model was published, the idea that we could work for the good of others, not altruism, had not yet emerged. This is undoubtedly why the fourth category of motivating factors (societal commitment) is not included, even though it does appear in Maslow's pyramid.
Theories from the beginning of the second half of the twentieth century show a change in the perception of motivation.
Until then, most research had considered human beings to be inert by nature and that they needed to be motivated to become active. That's what Taylor claimed when he called workers lazy. Motivation then changed its face.
The psychologists of the second half of the last century [...] believed that the person is always moving towards something and doing something. People are intrinsically active and always motivated. People don't need motivation to start acting because they're always moving and in action.[1]
Research then turns to individual agentivity. Agentivity is the concept of the human being as the agent of his own existence and progress. He is no longer the slave of external forces (environment) and internal forces (drives). He becomes the "captain of his ship".
This is generally considered a theory that is no longer concerned with the "why" of motivation - this question being considered settled in the previous paradigm - but with the "how," i.e., the process by which motivation is constructed. In short, it is more a theory of decision than of motivation.[2]
[1] Psychologie de la motivation et des émotions — Johnmarshall Reeve - 2e Édition | Février 2017 - deBoeck
[2] Maugeri, Salvatore. Théories de la motivation au travail - 2ème édition (Les Topos) (French Edition) . Dunod.