Ngozi Okafor, HR Manager at First Bank of Nigeria Plc, is designing a motivation programme. She proposes that employees who have not yet received consistent monthly salaries, safe working conditions, and job security cannot be effectively motivated by offering them opportunities for career advancement and self-actualisation. This proposal is most consistent with which management theory?

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs posits that human needs are arranged in a hierarchical order — physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualisation — and that lower-order needs must be substantially satisfied before higher-order needs become motivating. Salaries address physiological needs and job security addresses safety needs; until these are met, offering self-actualisation opportunities will not effectively motivate employees. The other theories do not specifically address this sequential hierarchy of needs.