Management by Exception

Description of Management by Exception. Explanation.

Definition Management by Exception. Description.

Management by Exception (MBE) is a management style, policy or philosophy wherein managers intervene only when their employees fail to meet their performance standards or when things go wrong. If the personnel are performing as expected, the manager will take no action. Time and effort should not be wasted focusing on employees or parts of the organization where things are going smoothly.

The term is also used to describe provision of information to management in which only significant deviations from budgets or plans are reviewed as the basis for corrective action. The object is to reduce the quantity of detail contained in management reports and statistics to date on which action can be taken.

In many cases, management by exception requires that the manager delegates specific functions to others who are part of the team or group impacted by the abnormal results. Within the scope of that employee’s duties, he or she will likely use processes designed to specifically address that deviation, while the remainder of the team continues to use standard operating procedures and practices to manage other company functions.

Besides a control technique, MBE can be also a motivational approach. It fits well into an organizational philosophy of employee empowerment, in which managers delegate as much responsibility and activity as possible to those below them, stepping in only when it's really necessary. In MBE, only decisions that cannot be made at a lower level is passed on to the next higher level.

The idea behind management by exception is that managers should only spend their limited and valuable time to important, more tactical or even strategic activities.

Management by Exception Forum (18)

Management by Exception and Stages of Management Development
"The MBE concept in a way adds a dimension to the concept of the leadership pipeline, wherein the leader at every crossroad would need to adjust to:
- Time allocated to supervision
- Knowledge and skill
- Values.
It is an interesting perspective also to look at management development."

Management by Exception: Authority Without Accountability
"Delegating authority without accountability leads to authoritarianism.
Accountability is to be able to answer for a performance to the source that delegated the vested authority. Accountability is a metric that embodies values, ethics, trust, and results for effective governance.
Authority and accountability fuel agilities to anticipate, decide, and execute within contexts.
Authority without accountability is undemocratic and inefficient. Excepting accountability is not a feature of MBE."

The Difficulty with Management by Exception: Knowing what to Ignore..
"Management by exception is only valid in environments that are extremely stable and predictable because by definition management by exception muffles a person's ability to sense and respond.
The difficulty with MBE therefore is knowing what to ignore."

Managing by Exception: How to Behave as a Leader
"Reading this forum, my first reaction is to make a link with another topic which is very important for me: how to behave as a leader and not only as a manager?
I observe too often that top managers spend too much time managing the problems their teams are capable to solve and are not enough focused on leading: analyse, share a vision, define targets..."

Levels of Work (Elliot Jacques)
"The issue at hand seems to be the definition of "exception".
Defining the domain of work of the manager and the direct reports is precisely what Requisite Organisation (Levels of Work - Elliot Jaques) does, so that exception becomes contextual with clear criteria rather than subjective."

Is There an Art of Reporting Exceptions?
"Does success or failure of management by exceptions depend on the way exceptions are reported. It could be language, timing, reportee selection or such aspect of exception.
Managers may share their experience on this aspect for better clarity and ultimate success of this method."

From Exception to Contingency Management
"If we can determine where the limit of management by exception ends and hand over its reigns to contingency management – i.e. ‘it all depends’ approach, then we have an answer to management issues in these unpredictable times.
Contingency management recognizes the extreme worth and relevance of an individual manager’s performance in any extreme situation. What of course is needed is the acumen, experience, skills and judgement of the manager in a particular corporate environment."

When Management by Exception Fails? Conditions and Situations
"MBE is a very good method, but it cannot be the only way of control. It may fail to deliver due to some factors. I try to list some:
1. People are mostly afraid to bring out exceptions. "Who will bell the cat?" is often the reason for this. (Ed: The fable of concerns a group of mice who debate plans to nullify the threat of a marauding cat. One of them proposes placing a bell around its neck, so that they are warned of its approach. The plan is applauded by the others, until one mouse asks who will volunteer to place the bell on the cat.)
2. Exception may be brought out at last moment when nothing except fire fighting or accepting it as fait accompli remains.
3. Often there is no clarity about whose exceptions may be brought out. It is easier to bring out exceptions of others. But that starts political battles.
4. In order to be diplomatic and not offensive to peers, the language of exception is diluted and does not convey seriousness or reality of problem.
5. Superior's reaction to exception may affect further exceptions' reporting.
6. Peer politics may work counter to objectives of management by exceptions.
Other points may be added by managers who practise it..."

Management by Exception is Just One Thing..
"Micromanaging should be avoided at all time. This is usually done by a manager who does not trust his/her subordinates and/or is incapable of delegating. We see this behaviour a lot from managers who are promoted without the proper training for the position they are promoted into.
Indeed a managers should make it clear 'what' needs to be done and not 'how' it should be done. A manager should devote more of their time on strategic issues - making sure that the operations vision is still on track; conceptual and analytic thinking; why things are done the way they are done e.g. look at possible improvements..
And of course deal with escalations and mentor subordinate managers where necessary.
Having said all that, in practice, there is still a lot more to it."

A Simple Start with Management by Exception
"When I used to be a manager myself, if any of my subordinates came with a question, I asked them what was their proposal and if they had one, then we could discuss it.
If it was a good idea they were told to go ahead.
If they did not have a proposal they were asked to come back with one; again, I followed the same route.
Eventually they learned to take responsibilities themselves and reduced my amount of work to resolve major issues.
This was the way I followed to initiate a management by exception practice in real terms."

Combine Management by Exception with Kaizen
"To avoid or minimize failures and to minimize exception, manager(s) must make improvements and changes on an ongoing basis.
To ensure these steady improvements take place, the concept of Kaizen can be used."

How to Deal with Managers That Can't Delegate?
"Management by exception has many benefits. But a number of managers don´t do it and also don´t understand if their subordinates apply this technique.
How to deal with seniors managers that deal wilth all matters themselves and are unable to delegate?"

Requirements for Management by Exception. Prerequisites
"I think it is a good approach, it is the approach I use, but the effectiveness of MBE will depend on the nature of the core business of operations and also on the experience of the manager.
Micro managing is always the downfall of inexperienced managers, I think with maturity most managers eventually employ the MBE approach."

Disadvantages of Management by Exception
"Disadvantages:
1. There is no generic way available by which one can differentiate important deviations from the unimportant ones.
2. Only an organization that has a perfect system of control will be able to employ the technique of MBE
3. It may lead to dispersal of authority that has its own limitations."

Advantages of Management by Exception
"Management by Exception is a management technique by which managers concentrate only on exceptional deviations instead of trying to correct each and every deviation.
The advantage of the technique of management by exception is that it allows the manager to concentrate on problems that need his attention and to avoid dealing with those that can be well handled by the subordinated themselves.
Advantages:
1. It allows the manager to devote more time for important issues by letting the subordinates deal with the issues of a routine nature.
2. The manager need not bother about routine matters.
3. Since the manager devotes more time for vital issues, he will be able to make better decisions.
4. The subordinates are given authority to make decisions on certain matters without any interference by the executives.
5. The management is also able to utilize the available talent at the lower levels
6. Helps to identify the responsible person."

Books on Management by Exception
"Good night for everybody, can someone recommend the best book for more information about management by exception? Thanks.."