Aurora Perpetua: A pilot study of a cybernetic diagnostic instrument that detects management system violence

Aurora Perpetua ("continuous dawn" in Latin) is an information framework designed to diagnose psychological abuse in social systems. Presented in a checkerboard grid, Aurora Perpetua's diagnostic instrument frames have measurable performance metrics describing five possible management behavior patterns or social system states: violent, stagnant, functional, changing, and pacific or a state of excellence. To develop underlying theory for the diagnostic instrument, I used a qualitative methodology known as traditional literature review. Aurora Perpetua's design strategy has two novel qualitative research methodologies to gather data: ontogenic participating system observations and World Cafe conversations. The first method allows the researcher to gather behavioral data about people in their work settings without disturbing the system under observation; the other method allows dynamic human knowledge as data to emerge through respectful conversation. The diagnostic instrument has two distinct parts. Microsystem Part I is a creative bi-variate information matrix with forty-six metrics serving to assess current social system behavior patterns and Part II is a traditional questionnaire of twenty questions that detects specific examples of management violence toward subordinates of the social system. Part II results correlate with behavioral patterns set by Part I. I conducted seven different dynamic social system tests with the Aurora Perpetua tool in a large multinational corporation to determine design reliability. From the initial data the researcher conducted quantitative analysis to find that the tool has moderate to high reliability, as the data from each system test are consistent. Designed to meet system criteria or "systemness," the researcher conducted another test based on a different validated question set to determine system design validity. Future researchers may find this pilot study useful in exploring other aspects of management system violence and their effects on the social system, particularly areas of cost and human effectiveness.