I'm fully in the integration camp. When Admin (DBA), Dev and Ops are siloed with poor communication you get the situation you describe in your editorial. However, if they are well integrated so that the DBA team functions with Dev and Ops on projects and has both input and understanding of the business goals and business processes being supported, things work out much better for everyone.

In general, we who do this kind of work, are on the more-communications-challenged end of the spectrum so teams and managers need to work to facilitate communication between individuals and groups. They also need to try to disarm resource-guarding within these groups:

-- DBAs don't want new (aka bad) code and data structures getting put up on domains they have to administer because it can cause serious heart burn for them. They already have their days full with their normal work load so new code pushes are just an added headache.

-- Developers are usually scrambling to meet tight deadlines with limited information and endlessly changing requirements. They're juggling a million details and the goal for them is to just get something that works (sort of) up for their user by the deadline. Good code is a stretch goal.

-- Ops very often has a full-time job just trying to fight fires that they have no control over quenching. Changes are not desired because change usually means that for sure something will go wrong and they'll be up at 3 am trying to figure out why and/or trying to find someone who can make it better.

Building partnerships and communication is the key. Teams that can focus on long-term gains rather than short-term pain is key. Doing that with the usual personalities of the tech/database world is the challenge!