This survey presents an emerging research area, coordination theory, which studies coordination across disciplines such as computer science, organization theory, operations research, economics, linguistics, and psychology. Coordination is defined as managing dependencies between activities, and the research focuses on identifying different types of dependencies and coordination processes to manage them. The paper analyzes various coordination processes, including managing shared resources, producer/consumer relationships, simultaneity constraints, and task/subtask dependencies. It also discusses applications in three domains: understanding the effects of information technology on human organizations and markets, designing cooperative work tools, and designing distributed and parallel computer systems. The paper outlines a research agenda for this new area, emphasizing the need for interdisciplinary interaction to develop a comprehensive theory of coordination. Coordination theory aims to provide a framework for understanding and improving coordination in diverse systems, including human, computational, and biological systems. The paper highlights the importance of identifying commonalities across disciplines and developing a unified theory of coordination that can be applied to various contexts. It also discusses the challenges of coordination in human systems, such as managing conflicting interests and emotions, and the potential for analogies from other systems to inform coordination processes. The paper concludes by emphasizing the need for further research to develop a deeper understanding of coordination and its applications in various domains.This survey presents an emerging research area, coordination theory, which studies coordination across disciplines such as computer science, organization theory, operations research, economics, linguistics, and psychology. Coordination is defined as managing dependencies between activities, and the research focuses on identifying different types of dependencies and coordination processes to manage them. The paper analyzes various coordination processes, including managing shared resources, producer/consumer relationships, simultaneity constraints, and task/subtask dependencies. It also discusses applications in three domains: understanding the effects of information technology on human organizations and markets, designing cooperative work tools, and designing distributed and parallel computer systems. The paper outlines a research agenda for this new area, emphasizing the need for interdisciplinary interaction to develop a comprehensive theory of coordination. Coordination theory aims to provide a framework for understanding and improving coordination in diverse systems, including human, computational, and biological systems. The paper highlights the importance of identifying commonalities across disciplines and developing a unified theory of coordination that can be applied to various contexts. It also discusses the challenges of coordination in human systems, such as managing conflicting interests and emotions, and the potential for analogies from other systems to inform coordination processes. The paper concludes by emphasizing the need for further research to develop a deeper understanding of coordination and its applications in various domains.