24 Example of Management Expectations

John Spacey, updated on June 12, 2023

Management expectations are performance standards that a manager communicates to their team. It is a poor practice to adopt expectations without sufficiently communicating them. Communication of expectations can include informal communication such as a conversation and formal communications such as performance goals. The following are common examples of management expectations.

Being friendly and helpful with customers	Being open and honest
Being productive	Clearing issues without direction
Compliance with the law	Cost diligence
Escalating serious issues	Ethical behavior
Following directions	Making decisions without direction
Meeting commitments	Meeting deadlines
Not wasting resources	Not wasting time
Professionalism	Punctuality
Respectful behavior	Solving problems without direction
Standards compliance	Stewardship of company assets
Taking initiative	Taking ownership
Timely responses to stakeholders	Work quality

Setting expectations is one of the functions of management.

The expectations of managers will differ greatly depending on the role and experience level of employees. For example, you may expect senior staff to work without much direction and to stay productive without monitoring. Expectations for entry level staff may be much lower.

Employees may work to manage the expectations of managers such as communicating that a deadline is impossible.