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The purpose of this paper is to present a set of strategies for effective managerial self‐change within the substantive setting of a cleaned‐up bureaucracy.

Using inductive methodology, data have been collected and analysed from a large Australian public‐sector bureaucracy by means of 26 personal interviews conducted between 2000 and 2002.

A conceptual model of managerial self‐change is presented stressing the importance of both cognitive and behavioural strategies within the context of an “awareness‐understanding‐accomplishment” feedback loop and learning process. The model incorporates and extends some of the major concepts in the extant literature on thought self‐leadership and learned optimism by incorporating attributional analysis into managerial cognitive thought patterns. The findings also suggest refinements to the concept of managerial credibility within cleaned‐up bureaucracies.

Findings are derived on the basis of a substantive case study of one cleaned‐up bureaucracy in a particular country. Further research needs to expand this base to encompass other organizations in a wider range of countries across different cultures.

The model draws attention to how the behaviour of organisational subordinates within cleaned‐up bureaucracies is significantly affected by the attitudes and actions of their immediate manager. By adopting a set of strategies contained with the conceptual model, managers can learn how to change themselves.

The paper departs from the prevalent tendency of the extant literature to employ laboratory or experimentally derived data by using systematically gathered and grounded empirical data in a naturalistic organisational setting. Additionally, the findings have more to say about the nuances of a particular organisational context rather than generalising across numerous contextual environments.

The purpose of the paper is to present a theory of the leadership process within the substantive setting of a cleaned‐up bureaucracy.

Orthodox grounded theory is employed within the setting of a large public‐sector organization in an eastern state of Australia.

A leadership process model is presented which depicts a core social process within which subordinates' view of leadership is formed. Subordinates in cleaned‐up bureaucracies view leaders as people who service them, thus facilitating the movement of subordinates towards the minimization of their “attainment differences”. This view is far from the New Leadership notions of the charismatic, visionary, transformational leader or the captain‐like instrumental and authoritative leader.

Findings are derived on the basis of a substantive case study of one cleaned‐up bureaucracy in a particular country. Further research needs to expand this base to encompass other organizations in a wider range of countries across different cultures.

The grounded theoretical model draws attention to the intermediation and brokering role of leaders below the top management team who need to find ways to accommodate within the unilateral dictates of the senior executive strategies designed to minimize the attainment differences of subordinates.

The paper responds to recent calls to situate leadership process research within specific organizational and change contexts. Not all organizational change involves movement away from existing structures, systems or principles. Rather, some change efforts involve movement within the framework of existing structures, systems or principles, in the sense that they are aimed at tightening up rather than breaking down these concepts. Thus, change efforts are often aimed at cleaning‐up bureaucracies so they can achieve their prime objectives more efficiently. The leadership literature is far less rich in analysing such situations, a deficiency which this paper is aimed at filling.