Management by exception is an approach that deviates from normal policies and procedures to address abnormal results. It involves delegating specific functions to team members and developing alternative procedures to address the problem. The manager is held accountable but avoids micromanaging, allowing for employee development.
Management by exception is an approach that sometimes uses methods and procedures outside the normal policies and procedures in order to achieve a certain purpose. This approach can be used as part of the response to a problem that arises during a specific project or during some type of ongoing function within the corporate structure. This emergence of some type of deviation from expected or predicted results requires adaptation and in some cases abandonment of normal management processes in favor of an approach that is likely to produce a positive response to such abnormal results.
In many cases, management by exception or (MBE) requires the manager to delegate specific functions to others in the team or group affected by the abnormal results. Within that employee’s functions, they will likely use processes designed to specifically address that deviation, while the rest of the team continues to use standard operating procedures and practices to manage other business functions.
The degree of involvement the manager maintains in this process will vary, depending on the corporate culture and the nature of the exception. In some cases, management by exception will focus on developing an alternative procedure to address the problem, then pass responsibility for implementing that procedure to a member of its team. This approach has some merit, as the exception is handled without creating undue demands on the manager’s time. This helps ensure that other functions entrusted to the manager do not suffer from lack of attention, allowing the business to continue operating at a higher efficiency rate.
With a management by exception approach, the manager is still held accountable to higher ups in the company’s chain of command, but avoids the danger of microscopically managing each team member’s activities. Assuming team members are handpicked and given the right kind of training, the manager spends less time looking over each employee’s shoulder and more time serving as a facilitator and resource for each of his or her personal team members. The end result of management by exception can be the incremental development of current employees for management positions that may be available in years to come, as well as an opportunity for employees to develop and demonstrate talents and skills that may have been less apparent in an restrictive.
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