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Most serious organizational change efforts of the last two decades have focused on change within groups or the socio‐technical system. Hard data on change efforts are both limited and present a mixed picture of the effectiveness of these efforts, particularly over an extended period of time. Presents ideas, notions and concepts about the role of the individual within organizations which may help to explain some of the failures and increase the probability of successful change. Like individuals, organizations consist of body (participants′ common goals, beliefs of background), and spirit (individuals′ ideas, assumption and thought processes). The artificial system of an organization (spirit) is man‐made and owes its continued existence to the ideas, assumptions and thought processes in the minds of the individual within the organization. Consistent with this notion, develops the concept that for real long‐term organizational change to occur, the systems existing within the minds of individuals must be altered. Further, proposes that language, values, norms and ethics are the factors which hold an organization together and, since these factors are developed within individuals, they must be accounted for in change efforts. Also focuses on leaders and managers and their roles in organizational change. Specific characteristics of leaders which enable them to promote and foster change are identified and discussed. It is noted that for leaders to be successful they must (1) free themselves from themselves, (2) free themselves from the artificial systems of organizations, and (3) take specific responsibility for their actions.

Of all occupational groups, army officers are perhaps the most appropriate for studying leadership. A great deal of an officer’s effort and time is spent serving in a leadership capacity. This research with New Zealand army officers (n 103) describes the development of an instrument that directs and facilitates the articulation of perceptions of leadership knowledge processes. The subsequent knowledge process architecture provides a credible platform for the design of leadership training and development programmes with high utility for the organisation because of increased learning transfer from the leadership programme back to the workface.