A caricature of corporate management, Lumbergh is a division vice president of the Texas-based software company Initech, and serves as the main antagonist of the film.

He wears formal, solid-color day dress shirts with Winchester collars and suspenders with a belt — a fashion faux pas — as well as an MIT college class ring.

"[2] Social historian Joe Moran writes that Lumbergh's "non-confrontational" communication style "masks the reality of management coercion".

[3] In the film, Lumbergh is presented as a micromanager, whose favourite targets are programmer Peter Gibbons (the main protagonist, played by Ron Livingston) and collator Milton Waddams (Stephen Root).

After this, Lumbergh's fate is never elaborated on, though the deleted scenes reveal the filmmakers considered having him die in a fire started by Milton in revenge for being mistreated, and Peter, alongside coworkers Michael and Samir, discuss attending his funeral.