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This paper reviews the underpinning principles and scientific trends of cybernetics and the viable system model (VSM). Therefore, this paper aims to guide authors and managers active in management cybernetics and to inform them about the past, current and future trends in this discipline.

This paper adopts both qualitative and quantitative methods. First, a descriptive and qualitative approach is used to review and analyze management cybernetics historical trends. Then, a frequency analysis (quantitative) is conducted on the 1,000 first publications in the field.

The cybernetics was emerged in the Josiah Macy conference in 1946. Then, Wiener introduced the field of cybernetics and Ashby, Von Foerster and McCulloch developed this concept as a discipline. The Management cybernetics field that was introduced by Beer is a combination of system, control and management sciences. Beer presented VSM as an operational model in this area. Analyzing the 1,000 top-ranked publications shows that the introduction of this field reached maturity and further development became relatively mature. Moreover, based on the analyzed trends, VSM model application can now be strongly attractive. In this paper, the main journals, authors and research trends are analyzed. The main application area of this model is in the IT field and large-scale organizations.

The present paper’s implication for practitioners and researchers is guiding authors and managers to most appropriate studies in the field, so that they can produce and use the most efficient studies in this field.

The fields of IT, Policy-Making, Production, Social Issues, Service industry, Software developers, etc., are some of this paper’s implications for industry and society.

In this paper, the steps of VSM development are investigated. Then, recent trends (classifications, authors, journals and topics analysis) are surveyed by analyzing the top 1,000 publications in this field. This paper would help researchers find more appropriate research fields. In addition, it helps practitioners find the optimum solutions based on management cybernetics for their problems among vast numbers of publications.

The purpose of this paper is to show how the viable system model (VSM) and de Sitter's design theory can complement each other in the context of the diagnosis and design of viable organizations.

Key concepts from Beer's model and de Sitter's design theory are introduced and analyzed in order to show how they relate.

The VSM provides insight into the related systems necessary and sufficient for viability. As such, it specifies criteria supporting the diagnosis and design of organizational infrastructures, i.e. of organizational structures, HR systems, and technology. However, it does not explicitly conceptualize and provide a detailed heuristic for the design of organizational structures. De Sitter's theory fills in this gap.

The paper illustrates how, based on a rudimentary model of organizational viability, de Sitter's design theory positively addresses the question of how to diagnose and design organizational structures that add to the viability of organizations.

Viable system model (VSM) is a powerful tool mainly used to describe, solve and control systems’ complex problems autonomously. It enables systems to be flexible so that they can survive by rapidly responding and adapting their behaviors to any expected or even unexpected changes in the surrounding environment. This study aims to provide a literature review of the VSM as a conceptual framework for designing viable systems, and its applications in the field of higher education (HE).

The review is based on explaining “What is organizational cybernetics?”, clarifying the principles of the VSM as a rational model for designing viable organizations, discussing its drawbacks and the extended VSM, and then presenting a literature review of VSM applications in HE based on papers mainly published from 1993 to 2017.

Although there are many contributions provided by applying the VSM in HE, the previous developed models used Beer’s framework with its drawbacks without referring to some important factors neglected within it which are discussed in this review.

The study presents a summary of previous research on this topic and clarifies the essential issues needed to be addressed to design viable systems. Based on the gaps identified in the literature, some issues have been emphasized to be addressed in future research.

The purpose of the paper is concerned with one of the main contributions from the field of management cybernetics, the Viable System Model (VSM) developed by Beer (1972). This paper analyses what happens in terms of the VSM when a firm engages in production offshoring.

The paper is conceptual and develops four propositions about the nature of variety balance that production firms face, and what adjustments they make in the original viable system, both in terms of the properties of one or more of the basic subsystems and in the network of couplings between them.

The paper shows the production offshoring organisation as a dynamic adaptive system in search of ways to cope effectively with external forces that undermine its viability. The paper discusses how VSM can advance production offshoring research by both supplementing and linking established approaches such as transaction cost economics, the resource-based view and the eclectic theory of international production.

This research highlights the effects of geographical expansion of the firm’s operation on the stability of the firm itself. Using the VSM perspective, the paper provides opportunities to systematically track the changes that occur in the production offshoring firm and diagnose what they imply for the viability of the system as a whole.

This paper aims to capture current difficulties with the practical application of the viable system model (VSM). On this basis, a set of suggestions toward a more effective application of the model is made.

The study is based on observations from practical applications of the VSM, systematically collected by the author.

The paper suggests that the VSM is currently stuck in the typical chasm of a bell-shaped diffusion curve. The paper makes six propositions to smoother pass from the early adopters to the early majority.

The six findings imply various research efforts.

In contrast to frequent claims that VSM should be made accessible easily to a larger number of people, the paper suggests that a smaller number of better trained VSM experts support a larger number of managers with a more generic know how.

A more focused but broader application of the VSM may lead to better societal organizations and therefore to a more efficient effective solution of societal problems.

The paper suggests to tighten the focus of the VSM to the very abstract topic of judging variety balances and at the same time to better connect the model with the suite of established methods and tools in management. This is a contrast to other attempts, which either simplify the VSM or extend it into a comprehensive methodology.

The consequences of human social irresponsibility urge socially responsible reactions. The authors expose the consequences of socially irresponsible behaviour and state possible requisitely holistic tools to eliminate organisations’ dangerous and socially irresponsible behaviour. This paper aims to examine how the viable system model (the VSM) used as a diagnostic tool can help organisations support socially responsible behaviour.

Given the variety of systems methodologies, the authors selected the VSM as a key methodological tool of Organizational Cybernetics. A case-study approach is used to demonstrate the power of the VSM as a diagnostic tool.

Humans need to replace recklessness and selfishness by faster re-orientation towards a socially responsible society. By following the cybernetic circle of the preparation and implementation of the management process and practising social responsibility via the VSM, organisations can conduct socially responsible business operations for a socially responsible society. Respecting the pluralist nature of social responsibility and a limited framework of the VSM, the VSM analysis needs to be supported by interpretive systems approaches, such as Strategic Assumptions Surfacing and Testing (SAST).

The presented study’s limitation is the case study of a selected organisation from Europe. The discussion could be relevant to each organisation, which is observed as a viable system. The insights gained with this case study can be broadened by empirical research involving diverse organisations from various countries.

Research results indicate socially irresponsible behaviours of the researched organisation and possible ways of overcoming them. The cybernetic circle of the preparation and implementation of socially responsible management processes through the VSM offers a possible path towards more social responsibility in organisations. Moreover, the VSM should be used in combination with interpretive systems approaches, such as SAST.

The generality of the VSM indicates that decision-makers could use the VSM for diagnosing socially irresponsible behaviour in organisations and for redesigning organisations to help develop a more socially responsible society.

The paper contributes to a cybernetic framework and methodological support to social responsibility. This study could serve as an essential starting point for organisations wishing to take further steps towards social responsibility.

The aim of this study is to diagnose the Egyptian political system from the perspective of the viable system model (VSM). That in turn gives us significant insights on how to improve the distribution and control of power in Egypt to warrant greater autonomy and representativeness in the branches of government.

The proposed diagnostic framework in this study was accomplished by applying the principles and aspects of Stafford Beer's VSM to the three state powers of Egypt: the executive, legislative and judiciary. In addition, it adopts the guidelines for applying the VSM described by both Stafford Beer and José Pérez Ríos.

The presented framework in this study shows a comprehensive explanation of the essential functions and their distribution among the entities of the Egyptian political system. In addition to that, the findings give us insights about the need for greater autonomy and self-organization among the political system's entities. Greater communication, consensus, cooperation and coordination is needed to achieve balance, regulate the interactions between them and to monitor each other without intervention. This, in turn, would ensure greater representation of citizen demands and expectations, and protect and guarantee their rights and freedoms.

The modeling of the Egyptian political system from a VSM perspective suggests the necessity of reform of the political system by a clear division of functions and tasks within the operational entities and subentities, decentralization of power structures and utilization of the decision marketing mechanism to reach public acceptance. The application of the VSM, for the sake of diagnosing and designing the viability of separation of power, can be considered as highly original.

This paper aims to revisit the viable system model (VSM) discussing it from both the theoretical and the empirical standpoints, and ascertaining its relevance for organizational governance.

A combination of theoretical and empirical components is used: introduction to theory and critique on the one hand; case studies and a large sample empirical study on the other.

The VSM has proved to be a powerful means of governance for organizations in turbulent times. It conveys a durable, reliable knowledge. This has been corroborated in both case studies and a large-scale empirical study.

Application of the model under study can activate a huge potential for the improvement of organizations.

This contribution tests the VSM in an unseen fashion – qualitatively and quantitatively. The results suggest that a high confidence in the model is justified. It conveys to managers and leaders an unconventional, superior approach to both diagnosis and design of their organizations.

This paper attempts to show how the new communication and information technologies and the internet in particular can help in the design of viable organizations.

The paper presents a set of specific software tools based on internet, created for the purpose as given above. The tools are bundled in two packages. The VDMod package supports the application of Beer's viable system model (VSM) and the inclusion of system dynanics simulation models into the VSM model, as well as easy access to other tools such as team syntegrity. The SystemsNet package allows the members of the systems community to communicate with each other and gain swift access to these tools through the internet.

Communication and information technologies are enablers which help in the design of viable organizations by means of internet‐based software tools. They make the application of systemic approaches such as Beer's VSM and its combined use with System Dynamics (SD), or other methodologies and tools, easier and more readily accessible.

The paper refers mainly to Organizational Cybernetics and SD and does not take into consideration all other systems‐thinking methodologies.

This paper reveals the possibility of very easy access to software tools for applying the VSM and its combined use with SD as well as facilitating communication among systems‐thinking field members.

This paper contributes to the design of more viable organizations by providing researchers and practitioners of Organizational Cybernetics with the requisite software tools.

United Arab Emirates’ (UAEs) commitment to sustainable development is well reflected in its Vision-2021, 2030 and the Green Economy Strategy for Sustainable Development, followed by several initiatives at federal and local level. However, out of seven Emirates, the governments of Abu Dhabi and Dubai are adopting and rigorously implementing green initiatives for conserving energy, minimizing resources wastage and becoming zero-carbon ecology, leaving behind the other five emirates. To promote the implementation of government’s sustainability agenda holistically (including all the emirates), it is important to adopt a systems thinking to diagnose the complex social arrangements and their interactive relations with the larger systems and the environment at each and all recursive levels.

This viewpoint proposes that Viable System Model (VSM) framework can support sustainable planning and configuration evaluation holistically, by diagnosing the region (system-in-focus) together with the present and future environment, at multiple recursive levels of city, emirates and country-wide. To demonstrate the relative strength of the VSM structural framework and its principles to replicate/implement the green initiatives country-wide, the study provides supporting evidence and multiple examples of its application in other parts of the world for managing sustainability-related issues from smallest (town/city) to largest (national) levels in the United Arab Emirates.

The VSM framework has been adopted by several scholars for fruitful utilization of its structural, connectivity, recursivity and complexity principles in the context of sustainability at the organizational, territory and national levels. The discussion has been made on the suitability of VSM framework for implementing sustainable development initiatives county-wide by viewing it in totality and at multiple levels of administration and governance.

It has implications for leaders, policy-setters and regulators of United Arab Emirates as well as Gulf region inclusive of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman.

No prior work exists in Arab region where VSM has been proposed for the holistic management of sustainable initiatives. It has implications for leaders, policy-setters and regulators of United Arab Emirates as well as Gulf region inclusive of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman.