This qualitative interview based essay aims to examine how managers perceive their management role in an organization and more specified to what extent management is shaped by the individual’s personal attributes versus how much is controlled by the organization. The essay’s second central aspect is how scope for action is perceived by managers in their profession, as well as their reasoning concerning their and other managers’ exchangeability. To examine this, we used semi structured interviews with four managers active in different lines of business. Our theoretical framework aimes to enlighten the relationship between organizational and individual.

Our results and thereby the conclusion of the essay is that the management role is affected by a correlation between organization and individual. The organization gives the manager space to act/scope for action under the preresquisite that the organization’s goals and demands are achieved. These demands from the organization create a sense of duty in the manager, which results in them tempering their personal values to benefit the organization. The managers’ scope for action also makes it possible for them to put their own stamp on the profession, which in turn leads to them being harder to replace (as a manager). We have found that the personal attributes, in organizations where the manager has been given a lot of scope for action, then have greater significance in shaping the profession. Despite this we found that the organization affects the profession in a greater extent than the individual’s attributes, since the scope for action is given only if the organizations’ goals and demands are achieved.