Followers’ self-view (self-awareness, self-knowledge) as defined by Lord et al. (1999) is an individual’s perception of his or her standing on the attributes made salient by a given context. A person’s perceptions of his or her intellect, academic ability or social skill, are examples of self-views. As Lord et al (1999) go on to say, these self-views gain meaning, in part, through comparisons with others. As Markova (1987) states "the perception of people is a two way flow. The perceiver is not only aware of the other person, but he or she is also aware of the awareness of the other person directed towards the perceiver herself. Being mutually aware of each other, the perceivers interact with each other."

In the process of perception as mutual interaction, people can manifest two of their basic characteristics. Firstly, they have the power to recognize or confirm each other as human beings. Secondly, in the process of the interaction in general, and of social perceptions in particular, they seek recognition or confirmation of themselves by others. (Markova, 1987: 68)

James (1980; cited by Markova, 1987) remarked that "no more fiendish punishment could be devised, were such a thing physically possible, than that one should be turned loose in society and remain absolutely unnoticed by all members thereof." Therefore, even the simplest act of communication acknowledgement has strong impact. In an organizational setting this, it could be argued, is detrimental due to the now varied work forces, all with different styles of communication.

On the other hand, Ameode (1986) states that the experience of being ‘seen’ and understood, or when something that is meaningful to us is emphatically felt by another person, can add to trust. This is an important item for organisational teamwork and necessary for open and honest channels of communication to develop. Wong and Law (2002) state that supportive behavior of leaders has a positive effect on job satisfaction, and probably performance of followers, to the extent that followers will have stronger commitment and satisfaction should leaders treat them with psychological benefits such as approval, respect, and esteem, which may first involve an emphatic response from the sender to the receiver. Markova (1987: 68) argues that "recognition of one person by the other is realized in every single act of interpersonal perceptions." Therefore, to understand effective leadership process the receiver of the senders’ message has to be taken into account. Being aware of the followers’ disposition surely must be beneficial.