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Researches status and trends of management cybernetics and viable system model

Amin Vahidi (Iran University of Science and Technology, IUST, Tehran, The Islamic Republic of Iran)
Alireza Aliahmadi (Iran University of Science and Technology, IUST, Tehran, The Islamic Republic of Iran)
Ebrahim Teimoury (Iran University of Science and Technology, IUST, Tehran, The Islamic Republic of Iran)

Kybernetes

ISSN: 0368-492X

Article publication date: 13 July 2018

Issue publication date: 2 May 2019

466

Abstract

Purpose

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.

Design/methodology/approach

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.

Findings

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.

Practical implications

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.

Social implications

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.

Originality/value

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.

Keywords

Citation

Vahidi, A., Aliahmadi, A. and Teimoury, E. (2019), "Researches status and trends of management cybernetics and viable system model", Kybernetes, Vol. 48 No. 5, pp. 1011-1044. https://doi.org/10.1108/K-11-2017-0433

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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