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The purpose of this paper is to use de Sitter's design theory to show how organizational structures can be designed so as to attenuate organizational disturbances and amplify regulatory potential. It is argued that organizational structures with low values on so‐called design‐parameters are themselves no source of disturbances and have the required built‐in regulatory potential.

Key concepts from de Sitter's design theory are introduced and used to show how structures can attenuate disturbances and amplify regulatory potential.

The analysis in this paper deepens our understanding of the role of organizational structures for dealing with organizational complexity, and of the design parameters that should be manipulated to achieve structural attenuation and amplification.

Having a structure permitting organizations to attenuate and amplify is a crucial condition for organizational viability. This paper provides guidelines for the design of such structures.

This is one of a limited number of studies that makes apparent how general insights from (management) cybernetic (e.g. viability, attenuation and amplification) may be realized in organizations by their structural design.

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.

In this paper we assess whether the balanced scorecard (BSC) supports the necessary functions for organizational viability. To this purpose, we use the viable system model (VSM) as a means to describe the functions required for organizational viability. Then we use the VSM as a template to assess whether and how the BSC supports these functions for organizational viability.

This paper sketches the outlines of a differentiated approach towards the contribution of HRM to organizational change. While departing from a critique on the assumptions of the human resource‐based view of the firm, we develop an alternative approach which has been derived from the core elements of the relational theory of emotions. These elements, which pertain to the complexity of human beings, emphasize the processes and relational characteristics of emotions and the hegemonic power base of emotions. We argue that it is necessary to sensitize HRM to the emotional subroutines entwined in organizational change, and that an empathic and respectful approach towards people's authenticity should be cultivated.