In the book tentatively titled Seeking Alignment I explain this technique in a variety of formats. I have that work posted on my web site at http://www.robertPerrine.biz. I will not duplicate that material in this article. Instead I will provide a brief overview of the technique and then put the technique to use.

 

The technique began when I was working with a variety of two dimensional business management frameworks. I found a pattern that allowed an overlay of many of those frameworks onto the same grid. The key to that overlay was in defining the horizontal axis as “antagonism” and the vertical axis as “dissonance”. The problem was that there were parts left over from some of those frameworks and there were gaps in other frameworks. I found that I could resolve those problems by extending the grid to the left and labeling that extension “love”.

It is not surprising that the dimension of “love” was not common in business literature as that is not a concept commonly found in our work place. Yet, the result from increasing our compassion, concern and love for our fellow employees is exactly the factor that differentiates many excellent companies from their competitors.

I then began applying this concept to my work environment and tested it on three different projects. I was quite pleased with the result and yet I realized that was too small a sample to be scientifically persuasive. In order to make this meaningful to others I needed more case studies to demonstrate this concept. I turned to the Christian Bible and began to use the parables of Jesus as case study material. I found that this concept finally answered questions I that had worked on for years without understanding. And thus I had the inspiration to write “Seeking Alignment”. I wrote that work in 31 days as I had a holistic vision for that work and it was simply a matter of finding time on my lunch breaks, after work and on weekends to write what was already in my mind. As I wrote I came to realize that I was venturing into a new understanding of the theology of the Kingdom of God. That sense of imminence had been formulating in my mind for a couple years and finally I could see how this concept of love and dissonance linked business management, Christian theology and the Kingdom of God into one.

There were still problems to resolve. First, I am unable to explain this concept to others clearly enough for them to grasp. I should not be surprised by this. I have been searching for an integration point to bring the Kingdom of God into the work place for more than thirty years. I also spent nearly eight years on a focused effort to understand why business process improvement efforts fail. It was only because I had spent all those years searching that I was prepared for this answer when I found it. Concepts are difficult to learn and concepts are nearly impossible to teach. What I believe I need to do is to provide many different explanations of this material and then give you time to toss it about in your mind to see whether or not the concepts find a place to grow. This article is another explanation to create one more perspective to help you see what it is that I have found.

Also, my short 31 day sprint was not as all encompassing as I had hoped. Thus I continued forward into a comparison of the four different gospel encounters between Jesus and Pilate. I have titled that work “Dancing with Pilate” and it is also posted on my web site. Out of that study I found that the negative aspects of dissonance also exist and correlate with states of being. The pattern of words, shown below, extends dissonance downward into a negative realm I labeled “distracters”.

Alignment (Love + Dissonance) Opportunity Redeem Repent “You say so”	DISSONANCE (Information to share) Discussion Explanation No response Unexpected answer	Chaos (Dissonance + Conflict) Accused Confused Conspire Jealousy Self-Focused Withdraw
LOVE (Actions to benefit) Acquiesce Convene Gift Inquire Release		ANTAGONISM (Actions to hinder) Captive Challenge Request Suffer
Closure Agreement Concede Ignorance Obligation	DISTRACTERS (Information ignored) Deny Tradition	Subjugation (Conflict + Distracters) Contempt Refuse Require

I propose to start this new study using these word fields to identify states of being and relational vectors. I use “vector” here to link to the concept of force. If I act with love, you will sense that and feel an urge to respond. We learn to filter, counter and ignore those urges, but my action will have an impact on you and your action will have an impact on me. Please read my work on Pilate for an introduction to that concept, or continue with me in this article as I put it to use.