Ethical Intelligence in Business
Ethical intelligence defines the true intentions of individuals and establishes the framework and limits of their efficacy. It is the intelligence that structures stable and dynamic rules that determine the action of individuals in their environment. The research on ethical intelligence was led by Peter Belohlavek at The Unicist Research Institute. Ethical intelligence determines the capacity of individuals to add value, their influence on the environment and on others and their time management.
On the one hand, the rules are stable since they respond to a purpose that is defined by the level of ethics within which the individual acts.
On the other hand, the rules are dynamic, because despite the fact that individuals are at a certain level, they are capable of determining alternative strategies that satisfy the objective they are seeking within that level.
Ethics is defined as a set of rules that are functional to a situation and to a certain perception of an accepted moral, and are supported by a complementary ideology.
Five levels of ethics have been found that sustain the behavior of the individuals:
- Ethics of survival
- Ethics of the earned value
- Ethics of added value
- Ethics of foundations
- Conceptual ethics
The higher the level of ethical intelligence, the higher the level of consciousness an individual needs to have.
Functionality of Ethical Intelligence
The Levels of Ethical Intelligence are Inclusive: the Following includes the Precedents
LEVEL OF ETHICS: | 1) Survivors Ethics | 2) Earned Value Ethics | 3) Added Value Ethics | 4) Foundations Ethics | 5) Conceptual Ethics | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
APPLICATIONS: | |||||||
Strategic Planning | Reactive approach | Tactical approach | Growth strategies | Expansive strategies | Timeless strategies | ||
Added Value Generation | Transferring cost and risks to others | Maximization of benefits | Generation of added value | Generation of structured value | Dynamic value generation | ||
Influential Power | Survivors pact | Influence on survivors | Influence within specific limits | Influence in the restricted context | Influence in the wide context | ||
Focusing | On risk-avoidance | On cost-avoidance | On value generation | On the system | On the environment | ||
Time Management | Here and now | Short-term planning | Medium-term planning | Long-term planning | Evolutionary planning | ||
Language Mask | Analogical | Operational | Factual | Ambiguous | Figurative |
Therefore the evolution of individuals’ ethical intelligence implies the increase of maturity which is based on higher levels of consciousness.
Ethical intelligence is the unique intelligence that has a structural evolution or involution process based on the maturity of individuals.
The exception is the stagnant survivors ethics which is the case of individuals who have built a parallel reality to stay.
Ethics of Survival
The ethics of survival is the type of ethics prevailing within the marginal areas of a culture or the marginal cultures.
Individuals that act according to this type of ethics exercises influence upon others who are in the same situation, based on survivor-pacts. Their time management is based on “the moment”, sustained by reactions based on intuition. They have a reactive tactical approach to reality. They focus on surviving and avoiding risks.
The Ethics of the Earned Value
This type of ethics seeks to add the minimal value possible to generate an earned value and to minimize costs in order to assure the subsistence level.
They are able to manage short-term problems. Short-term is the lapse between adding value and generating the corresponding earned value. They have a tactical active approach to reality. They focus on maximizing their benefits.
The Ethics of Added Value
This is the type of ethics that maximizes the added value to the environment seeking to optimize the relationship between added value and cost.
Such individuals manage the medium-term, which is the time to transform knowledge into added value. They develop medium-term strategies. They focus on the value they are adding.
The Ethics of Foundation
The ethics of foundation is used by individuals that consider that added value is secured by knowledge.
Such individuals manage the long-term, which is the time span between discovering a concept and transforming it into useful knowledge. They develop long-term strategies. They focus on the knowledge they are acquiring.
The Conceptual Ethics
This is the intelligence used to maximize the added value by using a high level of energy to materialize the need to give.
Individuals behaving according to this type of ethics exert influence on the entire environment because of their energy. They manage universal time that is the time of the cycles, with no time limitations.
They do not take into account their own existence. They develop strategies using the available, possible and expected forces. They focus on achieving the truth.
The Stagnant Survivors Ethics
Stagnant Survivors are individuals with a complex driven behavior that sustains the parallel reality they live in and the responsibility avoidance they need to exert to be in a comfort zone.The paradox is that their comfort zone is a conflict zone for those who surround them.
The stagnated status is based on a fallacious utopia that justifies their actions and forces them to exert power while they appropriate the value they need to feel comfortable. The justifications are built upon fallacies to sustain their actions, beliefs and needs.
Business Functionality of Ethical Intelligence
The discovery of ethical intelligence opened new possibilities to influence individuals’ evolution. Ethical intelligence in business defines the value adding possibilities, the influence on the environment, time management, strategic planning and focusing.
The apparent paradox is that it is the deepest intelligence of the human mind, but at the same time it is the intelligence that evolves with the maturity of individuals and can be influenced.
It has to be considered that in the business world different activities require different ethical approaches in order to be successful. For example:
A business is consistent when the individuals dealing with it have the ethics required by the activity.
When the ethics is inferior to what is needed, it necessarily inhibits growth installing a “business growth virus” in the organization.
If the ethics used by individuals is superior to what is needed, they install a “business profit virus” in the organization that increases costs and affects profitability.
Ethics is implicit in everyday actions, including language. Therefore, it can be defined, measured and fostered.
The rational knowledge of ethical intelligence has an enormous benefit for individuals in organizations in order to ensure consistency for growth and profitability.
Personal Efficacy and Ethical Intelligence
Efficacy is the capacity of individuals to produce results in a responsible way. This implies that efficacy requires awareness of what one is doing. That is why we do not talk of efficacy when evaluating individual art. The fundamentals of efficacy can by defined as:
- The identification with the role: Efficacy requires that individuals are identified with the role they are fulfilling when they work. The role can be defined as the social identity of the individual.
- The identification with the task: Efficacy requires having the necessary competencies to develop a task that allows enjoying the work.
- Knowledge: Knowledge implies having the functional “knowledge objects” to do the work stored in the long term memory.
The efficacy of individuals can be calculated using the mathematics of the Unicist Logic:
Unicist Efficacy = I(R) * I(T) * K
Individuals need to assume the responsibility of working in the field of their efficacy which defines the limits of the possibilities for assuming responsibilities to produce results.
Learn more: https://www.unicist.org/conceptual-thinking/the-roots-of-intelligence/
Unicist Press Committee