It is a popular fear and misunderstanding that self-organization would equal “no control”, “no boundaries”, or outright “anarchy” and “chaos”. Actual self-organization has nothing to do with any of that, of course.
It is only in the mind of the command-and-control thinker that self-organization would appear “loose”. In fact, self-organization is always rooted in much higher discipline than top-down command-and-control. Just as a functioning democracy is rooted in much higher collective discipline and shared responsibility than an autocracy, or a dictatorship.
In other words: Self-organization as the opposite of command-and-control is not “no control”: It is “more control and different control”, and it is “control beyond bosses & steering”.
The pillars of “better control” within self-organization is neither mystical, nor are they a secret:
They are just alien to those socialized within command-and-control systems.
The powerful sources of mutual, collective control in self-organization or Beta, arise through
– shared principles
– transparency, and
– peer/social pressure.
Here is a recent article in which I am outlining this a bit more…
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/musings-social-density-niels-pflaeging/