The second subsistence level of human behavior is that which was observed by Freud, just as the first level is that observed by the early conditioning psychologists. It is the behavior of the human awakened to self and the world; the behavior of he who is frightened by an influx of stimulation he can neither comprehend nor control. It is the state of frightened existence.

Caught in a world of unpredictability and chaos man at the second subsistence level seeks to construct an orderly, predictable, stable world, one in which the feared and the unexpected does not happen. To live with his perception that life is precarious, that one exists in a world of ever threatening stimuli man creates the constrictive ethic; an ethic which he must develop in order to deal with his state of frightened, over-stimulated existence. This is a suppressive, repressive, Freudianistically explained ethic. Man lays a strong hand on his impulses and imposes a rigid order on the world. Stringent Thou Shalls and Thou Shalt Nots for living are developed. It is the ethic of the Hindu Mystic, the Buddhist Monk, and the Christian Saint. An ethic of prescribed rules, attributed to some Divine-like authority which are the rules of achieving everlasting peace, everlasting life - - be it in Nirvana, Heaven or the Happy Hunting Ground.

Within this state of human existence the leader-follower relationship is consistent with the safety motive and the constrictive ethic. It, too, is a prescribed relationship, a relationship laid down in divine authority. He who lives at this level believes the role of each human is predestined. He operates within the tenets of Predestinative Management. The leader leads because he is born to lead and the follower follows because his is predestined. Perceiving that position is ordained and believing that restriction is the proper way of life, the leader and the led develop a protective-supportive alliance for the management of human affairs. Fealty and loyalty, service and noblesse oblige are the keystones to organization relationships when both leader and led are at the second subsistence level. The leader’s role is to prepare to sacrifice self in protection of the led and the role of the led is to sacrifice self in support of the leader. The leader and follower in feudal, agricultural or limited commercial organizations have similar and congruent values which makes for viability, but such is not necessarily so in other instances where the values of the managers are similar to the values of those who are managed.

Predestinative management ultimately gives way and one of the reasons is that nature does not place brains solely in the heads of predestined leaders. Some of the led get their share and some of these ultimately question their slavish existence. When successful Predestinative management frees energy in the human system and when this increased energy is joined with the impelling reason of dissatisfaction dynamic brain systems are activated which produce insights that propel man to a still higher level of human existence.

The few, and there are few in the beginning, lift themselves to the third subsistence level through their own efforts. And as a result they see themselves as unquestionably superior to others. After all, they alone have brought themselves to this exalted position by superior use of their own energies. They were not born to be, they were made by their own efforts. They conclude, therefore, that they are indeed superior, that they are destined to lead not by Divine plan, but by proven superiority. Thus they spawn the power ethic. An ethic based on the thema that Might is Right, a thema described in detail by Machiavelli. This is the level of the omnipotent existence, a state of existence derived from the individual’s ability to produce at will and based on what can be called the domestication of power.

One should point out, at this stage that failure to recognize Machiavellian principles as an ethic, because of the usual restrictive interpretation of the word ethical, may be a major reason why those who have attempted to find order in ethical systems have not been too successful. Within the conception of man presented herein, acceptance of Machiavellian principles as an ethical system, albeit difficult, is essential to under-standing conditions in many organizations today.

He who lives by the power ethic believes that the power to change rests in the superior talents of the few, those few who are capable of using force to obtain desired ends. Power is virtue. It is better to act and fail than to suffer the ignominious shame of not having tried. To be in the throes of the power ethic, a successful organization can be established and maintained only thru the cunning use of force. He believes that competition is the spice of life. He believes that those who demonstrate that they are superior in the use of power have the right to set the rules, make the laws and to force the weaker to pursue the ends outlined by the superior person. To him it is right not to keep faith when to do so would harm his own self-interests. It is right to deceive and it is right to connive if such is necessary to achieve one’s goal. Fraud and manipulation are necessary means to the end and cruelty and fear are only tools to be properly applied. Organize, direct and control through the media of force and fear, avoid the reaction of hate, never mind needing to be loved or liked. Such is the way to mange as seen by those of the third subsistence level.

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