Standard profiles can be assigned to devices directly or indirectly via directories. A device can receive its settings from a number of directly or indirectly assigned profiles. During the assignment process, the profile settings overwrite the settings configured directly on the device. See Effectiveness of Settings.
If you use Shared Workplace, you have the option of assigning profiles to users. Profiles assigned to users have a higher priority than profiles assigned to devices. See Order of Effectiveness of Profiles in Shared Workplace and Prioritization of Profiles.