Uncertainty Can Favor Both Centralized and Decentralized Command
Conflict can intensify the need to act together and the need to respond independently.
Conflict is a pretty interesting case study of centralized and decentralized command. A strong central command might help coordinate the overall strategy, while people making tactical decisions on the ground might benefit from more freedom to respond to things nobody anticipated.
Sometimes I think about the old joke that Americans are difficult to fight because they don’t follow their own doctrine. People have enough freedom to do something their opponent hasn’t anticipated, without waiting for someone higher up to tell them what to do.
Then there’s almost the opposite picture in sci-fi. A giant swarm of aliens is so effective because a single hive mind coordinates all of them. If everything each creature sees is immediately available to that mind, the whole swarm could respond together in a way that separate individuals couldn’t.
A lot depends on how quickly information can reach the center, how much it can process, and how quickly a response can get back out. If it can keep up, centralized command starts making a lot more sense. But if information arrives late, or there’s too much to process, people on the ground might be better placed to respond.
Uncertainty can push you in both directions. You might want tighter coordination because it becomes more important that people are working together. But the same uncertainty means people will encounter things the center hasn’t anticipated and may need to respond for themselves. Both needs could become stronger at the same time.