What follows in this article can best be described as what German scholars call unabgesichert—that which is insufficiently protected from critical attack. What I have to say is personal, tentative, speculative, exploratory, ill‐worked out, probably inconsistent and certainly derivative. It cannot claim that status of theory, nor of a model, but is a series of assertions which underpin my view of behaviour within organisations. It is an attempt, within the limitations of space and readership imposed by this journal, to sketch in some ideas that inform my work with members of organisations particularly within the field of decision‐making. I expect it to be attacked and, from the standpoint of scholarly detachment, I would welcome such attacks. From a less objective standpoint however, I must point out that I am a small bloke with specs and acne who fundamentally is not too keen on having sand kicked in his face so comment tempered with constructive criticism is more likely to be readily received than any other kind.