The lack of collaboration between departments stifles innovation

Turf protection prevents teams within a company from working seamlessly together. Departments in competition with each other often create serious obstacles, not just to innovation, but even to everyday functioning. During turf wars, people spend more time protecting their territories than in striving to achieve organizational goals. Setting up cross-functional teams is a key method of promoting collaboration between departments. Since cross-functional teams give multiple departments a common goal, they result in the breaking down of barriers between departments, thereby reducing conflict and fostering collaboration.