So... this is about visualisation of the Maslow's Hierarchy? Does the usage of _pyramid visualisation_ change the aspect or message of the Hierarchy?
It is arguable that the "absolute" interpretation is not fundamental to either the pyramid or the hierarchy. It's still probably a good first order approximation to get the point across: you're gonna have trouble with upper layers if you have any serious deficiencies in lower layers.
So to counter the idea, all you really need to do is find examples of self esteem and self actualization before achieving the physical needs.
Which doesn't seem like it relates to the shape of the diagram (or any other representation of the hierarchy) at all.
If managers are doing things higher on the hierarchy but employees want higher wages, that just means they're further down the hierarchy and that need hasn't yet been fulfilled.
The familiar pyramid shape suggests that once we complete each step, we’re done dealing with that need forever. As if life were a video game, and once we complete each level, we unlock the next, with no looking back. It’s an appealing concept. It’s also a gross misrepresentation of the humanistic vision that propelled Maslow’s work.
Maslow emphasized that we are always in a state of becoming and that one’s “inner core” consists merely of “potentialities, not final actualizations” that are “weak, subtle, and delicate, very easily drowned out by learning, by cultural expectations, by fear, by disapproval, etc.”