Letter

a. Why does Budget Director Paula Harper feel such disappointment in Water Department Chief Engineer Mason's behavior - and vice versa?
Budget Director Paula Harper felt disappointed in Water Chief Engineer Mason’s because in her point of view as a Budget Director, she had to make a cogent recommendation to the Manager about additional personnel request. To do that, she had to have all information that she asked to Mason and his staff. This information would be used to determine whether they need and financially able to recruit additional personnel, how much was additional personnel they should hire, and the benefit they should expect with the addition. In Harper’s standpoint, Mason was not able to give enough information to her to calculate all measurement above. In addition, Mason was not only reacted defensively but also did personal attack to Harper and her Staff. At the end, he indirectly pressed Harper by giving estimation cost that would be occurs if his request did not approved.  
Water Department Chief Engineer Mason felt disappointed with Budget Director Harper because in his point of view, Harper was intentionally tried to slow the bureaucratic process. He thought that Harper asked questions that had clearly explained by him or his staff. He also thought that Harper should know more about problems and procedures of operating a Purification Plant. Due to Harper’s incompetence, she wasted the time that had been spent by her staff and his. In addition, since additional personnel were really crucial at that time, he needed a clear and direct answer whether the budget was strained by the additional personnel. With that information, he was able to choose either to give up some other budget item or to give up the additional personnel.

b. If you were the budget director, how would you go about evaluating the Water Department's request for additional part-time and seasonal employees? Why would these steps be important in doing your job?
If I were the Budget...