Call it operational pragmatism. And it would have made no sense to ignore them as their office was only three rooms removed from my Department. You're correct

Call it operational pragmatism. And it would have made no sense to ignore them as their office was only three rooms removed from my Department. You're correct though, it's an extremely fine balance between strict control and relaxing the rules—giving department heads freedom and autonomy. That's why bureaucracies err on the side of tight rules—even at the expense of introducing large inefficiencies.