Coordination issues in modular systems

In modular systems consisting of partially independent components the application of full central control is usually both undesirable and impossible. But this makes subunit coordination and overall system coherence maintenance difficult. The paper gives an overview of various potential approaches to alleviate that problem, based mostly on human / organizational research literature but encouraging the use of those ideas as inspiration for the design and management of systems of all kinds. The main covered issues are organizational structure, dealing with spontaneously emerged behavior, and supporting component cooperation (teamwork).