Work in the 21st century

[tomh009]

What I mean to say is, I think it is up to individual managers, and not just in how well they select for "fit." People who are hired by the same organization, even for different functions, already have more in common than not, and there's no reason they shouldn't be able to work together in a cohesive way and feel more like a team and less like just a group of people selling their labour to the same organization. 

Managers need to make time and space for this to happen, and they need to model it themselves.

I agree with you 100%.

Corporate culture is very much top down in my opinion. So it starts at the top. Front line managers can only do so much - they can certainly help in the situation when it comes to the day to day exchanges but stuff like in office days and activities or budget for team building comes from higher ranks.

Culture certainly starts at the top. But even if the top management doesn't have the same views, it's often possible to do (some) things locally. You need a manager who cares for his or her team and is willing to work to make work better for them. Yes, budget and merit increase limits etc restrict the scope, but it's also possible to do things as a team that don't cost anything. And beyond any events, ultimately most people can tell whether or not the manager really cares about them.