Picture a company drawn as a chart, with a line running down it. The work that earns the money runs along that line, and every person on it has a name in a box, with one box directly above them. A line manager is the person in the box above yours — close enough to hand you the work and check it, and standing on the same working line as you, not off to one side in a support office.
可以想成把公司畫成一張表，上面有一條由上往下的線。公司真正賺錢的工作就沿著這條線跑，線上每一格都是一個人，而每個人上面都緊接著一格。你的 line manager，就是你上面那一格的人：近到可以把工作交給你、看你做得怎麼樣，而且跟你站在同一條工作線上，不是在旁邊的支援部門裡。這條線往上還會再接一格，所以你的主管上面通常也還有他的主管。