{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,4]],"date-time":"2025-12-04T14:29:27Z","timestamp":1764858567009,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":9,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"3\/4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2011,5,3]],"date-time":"2011-05-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1304380800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2011,5,3]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Purpose<\/jats:title><jats:p>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\u2010called design\u2010parameters are themselves no source of disturbances and have the required built\u2010in regulatory potential.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title><jats:p>Key concepts from de Sitter's design theory are introduced and used to show how structures can attenuate disturbances and amplify regulatory potential.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Findings<\/jats:title><jats:p>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.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Practical implications<\/jats:title><jats:p>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.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Originality\/value<\/jats:title><jats:p>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.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/03684921111133656","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2011,7,25]],"date-time":"2011-07-25T10:03:07Z","timestamp":1311588187000},"page":"405-424","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Cybernetically sound organizational structures I: de Sitter's design theory"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"40","author":[{"given":"Dirk","family":"Vriens","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Jan","family":"Achterbergh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"140","reference":[{"key":"key2022031220263726200_b1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Achterbergh, J. and Vriens, D. (2010), Organizations: Social Systems Conducting Experiments, second revised edition, Springer, Heidelberg.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-14316-8_1"},{"key":"key2022031220263726200_b2","unstructured":"Ashby, W.R. (1958), An Introduction to Cybernetics, 3rd ed., Chapman & Hall, London."},{"key":"key2022031220263726200_b3","unstructured":"Beer, S. (1995), The Heart of Enterprise, Wiley, Chichester."},{"key":"key2022031220263726200_b4","unstructured":"Beer, S. (1996), Diagnosing the System for Organizations, Wiley, Chichester."},{"key":"key2022031220263726200_b5","unstructured":"Espejo, R., Schumann, W., Schwaninger, M. and Bilello, U. (1996), Organizational Transformation and Learning: A Cybernetic Approach to Management, Wiley, Chichester."},{"key":"key2022031220263726200_b6","unstructured":"Galbraith, J. (1973), Designing Complex Organizations, Addison\u2010Wesley, Reading, MA."},{"key":"key2022031220263726200_b7","unstructured":"Sitter, U.de. (1994), Synergetisch Produceren. Human Resources Mobilization in de Productie: een Inleiding in de Structuurbouw, van Gorcum, Assen."},{"key":"key2022031220263726200_b8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sitter, U.de, Den Hertog, F. and Dankbaar, B. (1997), \u201cFrom complex organizations with simple jobs to simple organizations with complex jobs\u201d, Human Relations, Vol. 50 No. 5, pp. 497\u2010534.","DOI":"10.1177\/001872679705000503"},{"key":"key2022031220263726200_b9","unstructured":"Womack, P., Jones, D.T. and Roos, D. (1990), The Machine that Changed the World, McMillan, New York, NY."}],"container-title":["Kybernetes"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"http:\/\/www.emeraldinsight.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1108\/03684921111133656","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/content\/doi\/10.1108\/03684921111133656\/full\/xml","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/content\/doi\/10.1108\/03684921111133656\/full\/html","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,24]],"date-time":"2025-07-24T23:27:11Z","timestamp":1753399631000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"http:\/\/www.emerald.com\/k\/article\/40\/3-4\/405-424\/268755"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Raul","family":"Espejo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2011,5,3]]},"references-count":9,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3\/4","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2011,5,3]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1108\/03684921111133656"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1108\/03684921111133656","relation":{},"ISSN":["0368-492X"],"issn-type":[{"type":"print","value":"0368-492X"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2011,5,3]]}}}