Bruce great points.  I have seen many examples similar to yours where there are conflicting requirements and the worker or manager as the case may be is forced to choose.  

I have also seen cases where the management metrics corporate has given to a satellite office are vague allowing the office to "interpret" the metrics to their benefit.  Example:  A claims processing office was given a goal to improve the cycle time of claims.  Claims cycle time was measured from the time the claim was input into the system until the time it was completed and approved.  To get clear data on improvement, management said it will measure the improvements only on new claims.  One regional office changed the start dates on all claims in progress to the date the management directive came out, thus showing a dramatic improvement in claims processing time.