To communicate with awareness is a useful tool. Clutterbuck (2001) states that every company’s future depends on its ability to unite employees behind an effective leader or leadership team by communicating its goals effectively. As Tourish et al (1999: 15) write, that being communicative with emotional intelligence is an important attribute of the communicator. How effective a participant communicating within in the organisational relationship is, can be determined, in part, by one of the components of Goleman’s (2000) qualities and traits of Emotional Intelligence. This component is Empathy, which is the ability and desire to develop others. Tourish (1999) states that "Empathy is also an ingredient of effective communication." As Markova (1987) argues, other awareness needs active listening skills and empathy and understanding of others. Self-and-other awareness is an important component of Emotional Intelligence.

Research by Markova (1987) states that "Communicative awareness is awareness of, and response to the feelings, thoughts and communicative intentions of participants in the process of their interpersonal interactions. Because they are able to assess each others’ feelings, thoughts, and intentions, participants can respond to each other idiosyncratically and effectively."

The concept of empathy is not new, although there is not an abundance of research in and around empathy in organisations until Salovey and Mayer’s research in the beginning of the 1990s. Burns coined the phrase in 1976. For Burns (1976: 407) when describing the occasional success of some that held 'Empathy' as a useful construct; "for it reinterprets the apparently extra-rational as the ability of some policy makers to comprehend and to respond to the cognitive and emotional structures of the needs and values that lie behind them. The Empathic person understands the needs of the wider public and their reactions when their needs are satisfied. Such a feat might be accomplished by a policy leader whose antennae have been sensitized by experience or by a novice who can see through the posture and defense of public attitudes to the real needs and values behind the protective façade." Therefore, the value of an empathic response or emotional intelligence (defined as the extent to which a person is attuned to his or her own feelings and to the feelings of others (Yukl, 2002)) has been noted in organizational literature. But it could be argued that, only when the emphasis in the market place is on information as a commodity and effective communication is needed to work within a globalised market, have these skills become noticed.

Communication skills such as self-and-other awareness have now became useful within the 21st century leadership style. An empathic response has been noted within the arts and social work for a few decades, therefore why, it could be asked, did it not have the attention of leaders in the business community before? It may be a case of strong resistance from the business community, due to adverse press, negating the need for empathy. (Of course not all organizations need to use this competency in the workplace.)

Muchinsky (2000) has noted that trying to explain our reluctance to formally address emotions in the workplace is in part due to William Whyte’s book entitled 'The Organization Man', published in 1956. In it Whyte speaks of effective business people as being logical, reasoned, and rational decision-makers. Emotions were regarded as unwanted influences, which deflected from the path of objectivity; forces to be controlled if not sublimated. Emotionality represented weakness. To the contrary, research by George (2000) states that leaders may use their emotions to enhance their information processing of the challenges, threats, issues, and opportunities facing their organization. George (2000) continues to say that emotional intelligence taps into the extent to which people’s cognitive capabilities are informed by emotions and to the extent to which emotions are cognitively managed.

Markova (1987) states that Empathy is a cognitive-affective response of the individual to the emotions and to emotion provoking situations of other people. It involves both feeling and understanding of how the other person feels in particular situations. Empathy is a cognitive-affective process that develops throughout the whole of an individual’s life. Under some conditions, however, the emotional aspect of this process can be suppressed, either partly or completely.

This process appears to be decomposable into two components; the cognitive and the emotional. Markova (1987) states that there are various modifiers of empathy, for example, display rules, perceived similarities, awareness of one’s own self and the individual’s life experience, may neutralize or, on the other hand, amplify the expression of empathy. Within the new work teams, how a follower and leader perceive themselves would seem very important towards contributing to effective communication within leadership and in areas such as conflict management and feedback provision. If there were a miss-match or perceptual distortion between sender and receiver of the information, this would surely create added conflict. Self and other awareness/perception would seem important to achieve clear communication.