According to lecture, information silos are most prominent in functional organizations, meaning that the departments and project teams within the organization keep to themselves to the point that they establish their own exclusive culture. Initially, the formation of silos may be perceived as positive due to the level of cohesion required among its members, however this often leads to seclusive norms that excludes outsiders, which will ultimately threaten the organization (1). Project-based organizations are not as exclusive among departments since members from multiple projects come from the same department (engineering, QC, QA, manufacturing, marketing, etc) which facilitates intercommunication, however, project-based organizations do limit the amount of knowledge that can be shared between project teams. Matrix organizations have no information silos among projects or departments, possibly because there is a greater distribution of power among the staff, which can prevent competition between projects since they have more of a sense of equality.

On online article for improving interdepartmental communication states that the main methods for uniting departments is to organize company-wide events, such as department-specific exercises (2). My company for example, schedules meetings among its staff from technicians to upper-management to partake in pseudo-projects as a training session aimed at improving cross-communication. Other methods for improving interdepartmental communication come at a small expense from a company, such as throwing social holiday events, organizing quarterly company retreats, or even holding team lunches depending on how much a company prioritizes a cohesive work environment. Is it plausible for a functional organization to attain the same level of interdepartmental communication found in matrix or project-based organizations? In what context would it be acceptable to not prioritize such an extent of communication? Have there been any cases in which the development of a medical device was delayed or compromised due to a lack of communication?

References:
1) Stuckenbruck, L. C. (1979). The matrix organization. Project Management Quarterly, 10(3), 21–33
2) "14 Ways to Improve Interdepartmental Communication" (2018) Young Entrepreneur Council

Like mentioned, competition (healthy kind) is good within a company as it can often push employees to strive to do their very best. However it can get to the point where it may create negative stigma or environment. If the competition is too highly enforced, then there can be destruction of team dynamics where people are seeking to blame others for things that go wrong and purposely not contribute so that they might take credit. A way to combat this would be to emphasize continually the team mentality across departments: if one of us fail, we all take the hit vs. it is this department's fault. While there may be accountability placed, the reality that there will not be ultimate progress unless everyone does well is what needs to be driven home. I have found in my workplace that this mentality is one that is the most helpful in team collaboration as it also encourages employees to help others do their job well so that everyone 'wins'.

In my current role, the organization uses interdepartmental group chats to culminate inter department silos. The group chats served as a way to minimize communication barriers. For example, the manufacturing department and the microbiology department frequently has to work together, and the  respective departmental needs are neglected. This allows communication so both departments can collaborate to achieve daily tasks and meet departmental goals. Being in a silo served little to no purpose because each department in a part of the company and every company has an overall mission to complete.