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The World Bank always faces a number of managerial dilemmas in determining how best to organize its staff to deliver its institutional and in-country programs. These dilemmas offer different ways in which the Bank can be legitimately organized to strike a balance between competing perspectives. The dilemmas include:•The technical or sectoral perspective that insists projects are well designed and the country perspective that seeks to meet the needs of the country or region;•The choice between a centralised staff based in Washington and the staff located in the countries or regions where they will be more accessible , and more responsive, to the wishes of the client countries;•The balance between research and operations, with the different demands that each makes on the staff.In these debates the Country Directors often act as the pivots of the Bank’s activities. This paper will explore the way that Country Directors bridge the demands from the headquarters in Washington and those from national governments. They interact with governments, commission work, buy services from research and sectoral divisions, play a major role in shaping the Country strategies, choose among projects and determine the balance between them. They can set their mark on the country strategies in a way that invalidates any easy notion of the Bank as a single unit with one view or one strategy. They can put the flesh on the generalized directions identified in Washington. Using a combination of principal/agency analysis and institutional theory, the paper will examine the levels of discretion and freedom they have to develop and implement the strategies at the national level. It will also put its findings in the context of debates about the capacity of international organizations to shape their own world. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]