I used to work in a functional organization where the functional head has a lot of power. From what I have observed they make most of the decisions. They choose who can work on what project and have the power to determine your future within the company. In this kind of establishment if the functional head likes you, you are bound to succeed and move up within the company. In this kind of establishment one will tend to notice some form of bias. It is very difficult to introduce new ideas as the one in charge believes they know best. Also, I believe functional managers have little understanding of the work being done by the staff which leads to unrealistic timelines being set