Allow Administrator to Update Records w/o adding required fields

As an administrator I sometimes deal with incomplete volunteer records. For example, I may have imported records into the database with just a minimum required for importing. I then go to edit an individual record adding whatever other information I may have, such as an address without a zip code, or the gender (think gender neutral names, such as Chris or Riley). Recently I wanted to change the status of some volunteers with incomplete records to "inactive." I could not do this in the individual file. I found a work-around do this through bulk update, but this is inefficient and inconsistent. If I can change it through bulk update, why not within an individual record?