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Details a discussion with Stafford Beer about the rationale of his cybernetic books published in the twentieth century (1959‐94). Includes a dialogue concerning his contributed works: Cybernetics and Management; Decision and Control; Management Science; Designing Freedom; Platform for Change; The Heart of Enterprise; Diagnosing the System for Organisations; and Beyond Dispute.Concludes with a perspective of some of his important early work and some unpublished contributions which have been collected into one book.

Details a discussion with Stafford Beer about the rationale of his cybernetic books published in the twentieth century (1959‐94). Includes a dialogue concerning his contributed works: Cybernetics and Management; Decision and Control; Management Science; Designing Freedom; Platform for Change; The Heart of Enterprise; Diagnosing the System for Organisations; and Beyond Dispute. Concludes with a perspective of some of his important early work and some unpublished contributions which have been collected into one book.

Presents a formal profile and academic vita of the distinguished scientist and philosopher Stafford Beer. Details his work as an international consultant in the sciences of management (social and operational research) and effective organization (cybernetics). Outlines his early years, work in industry and Government and his activities in scientific and academic contexts. Includes details of some of his publications from 1959 and the titles of his more recent books.

The purpose of this paper is to explain how the system science and cybernetics in Stafford Beer's viable system model (VSM) will help management structure and manage their company to achieve on‐going success in a fast‐changing world.

The author worked with Stafford Beer in the 1970s, applying his VSM in the corporation he then worked for and has used the VSM ideas in work with companies in 16 countries, always with success. The VSM instructs in how to structure and how to manage. For what to manage the author used Peter Drucker's key performance areas, and has more than 50 years of experience working in these areas.

The author has found, during his long career in industry and in consulting, that the VSM is the best available guide for structuring and managing a business enterprise for success in turbulent times.

In the 1950s, Ralph Cordiner “decentralized” General Electric into 120 businesses, pioneering a new, better way to structure and manage a corporation. After 50 years, we have the next revolutionary advance in management, the system science and cybernetics in Stafford's VSM. The VSM includes information and environments in structure, enabling companies to change as appropriate for achieving on‐going success in a world of huge and fast‐growing variety.

The paper shows how a simple form of the VSM includes all the system science company management needs to structure and manage their company for enduring success in fast‐changing times.

Stafford Beer's viable system model (VSM) offers a powerful and alternative model for both economic and social organizations to structure themselves, especially for those operating in highly turbulent environments. Recent advancements in information technology make feasible the implementation of real‐time information systems. The purpose of this paper is to describe the author's involvement in designing an information system for Libya's Youth and Sports Ministry, using Beer's VSM.

Systemic methodological ways of gathering the necessary data to build and implement the model, such as Checkland's CATWOE and Espejo's VIPLAN, make it far easier for information systems designers to implement the VSM.

An implementation of the model for Libya's Youth and Sports Ministry was undertaken in 2007. Although the full implementation was never completed, the methodological approach used was effective. Another lesson learnt by the analyst was that before attempting to improve the viability of a system, whether a human resource planning information system for an organization or implementing a viable model for a ministry or state, it is necessary to plan for a scenario where unforeseen and catastrophic changes, whether from external environmental challenges or from internal policy changes, can challenge the survivability of the project itself.

Research papers on implementations of the VSM tend to focus on the structure and the philosophical mechanisms in achieving requisite variety, however methods and tools to aid the implementation of the model are very few and not well clarified. This could explain why the late Stafford Beer initially sought the need to publish Diagnosing the System for Organizations in 1985 to simplify the process of implementing his pioneering insights and thoughts.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a framework, based on Beer's viable system model (VSM) that enables managers of public and private organizations to cope with the complexities faced by their organizations.

Based on concepts from organizational cybernetics (OC) an heuristic is elaborated for the design or diagnosis of any organization, from the point of view of its viability.

An outline of the process that enables managers to diagnose or design the organization they manage is formalized in a structured sequence which, starting with the clarification of an organization's identity, purpose and boundaries, guides the whole process of structure creation and the detailed diagnosis of all its structural components from the point of view of its viability. A taxonomy of frequent pathologies that affect organizations is also presented.

This kind of framework can guide managers to apply the cybernetic concepts for higher organizational performance, thereby overcoming the oft‐bemoaned difficulties in applying these concepts in practice.

The paper tries to fill the gap between the conceptual deep theoretical works in OC by Stafford Beer and other researchers, and the need of managers for a structured process that can guide their application. The framework presented tries to provide that kind of guide. It integrates different components within a single framework, which covers the creation of the general structure, the diagnosis of each particular organization within it, the evaluation of the degree of coherence between organizational levels, and a taxonomy of organizational pathologies to facilitate such a structuring. Another contribution is the introduction of the VSMod software, created precisely to facilitate the implementation of the VSM.

Sociologists are usually seen as the principal developers of organisational theory and it is not always realised that some very convincing explanations of how organisations work and suggestions on how they might work better are to be found in the science of control systems — cybernetics. Cybernetics provides us with a general systems theory; that is a theory which can be applied to any kind of system where there are control functions. The best known and most influential cybernetician in Britain is Professor Stafford Beer. He has made many major contributions to writing and thinking on the theory of organisation. Below are some of his ideas on how organisations work and can be made to work more effectively which he originally put forward in a lecture to the United Kingdom Automation Council.

Recalls times spent in Gordon Pask’s company and the discussions with the author on a wide range of topics, but focusing especially on foundational issues in science and cybernetics and developments in Pask’s own conversation theory and interaction of actors theory.