1
SELF AWARENESS AND LEADERSHIP
- AN EXPLORATORY STUDY
A Synopsis
Submitted
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the award of the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
in
FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
By
V. VIVEKANANDA SURI
[Reg. No. 06 03 PH 1326]
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CELL
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY HYDERABAD
KUKATPALLY, HYDERABAD – 500 085
INDIA
July 2011
2
Introduction
Leadership has been around since man has known time, and yet
there is no common understanding everyone agrees on. Perhaps this is
because leadership definition is continuously changing and evolving. It is
a complex entity, with many applications, and the results that it creates
depend highly on the situation in which it is being observed.
To handle present day business realities, some authors provide
directions on ‘Leadership Style’ requirements for the leaders to adopt.
Transactional / Transformational model promoted by Bass and Avolio
(1994) was seen as relevant to the challenges of organizations in a highly
volatile and rapidly changing business environment (Malcolm Higgs,
2002). Sashkin (1988) stated that Transformational leaders provide the
basis for creating organizations that are extremely effective in terms of
any criterion of performance or profit.
Church (1997) found that high performance managers were
significantly more self-aware compared with average performance
managers. This relationship was consistent regardless of data source,
organization, or method of assessing managerial performance. Failed
managers are less self-aware, readily lose their balance, cannot handle
mistakes openly, are not able to learn from past, and have a limited
number of job assignments (Eichinger & Lombardo, 2003; Lombardo &
Eichinger, 2001; McCall & Lombardo, 1983; Shipper & Dillard, 2000).
Tom Bourner, (1996) contended that an increasing rate of change within
3
organizations increases the need for development of self-awareness in
managers.
Continuous changes in both the economy and technology suggest
that managers who lead modern organizations constantly need to be
engaged in a leadership learning process. Although much of executive
development focuses on technical and financial issues, the big difference
in careers results from a lack of knowledge of a different kind —gaps in
self-awareness (Robert Hogan and Rodnet Warrrenfeltz, 2003)
Research Objectives
Following are the objectives set for this research

Objective 1: To understand self awareness in published literature
and come up with a questionnaire to measure it.

Objective
2:
To
understand
leadership
styles
in
published
literature and pick popular and/or nascent leadership styles for
further study and measure them using a questionnaire.

Objective 3: To study and infer empirical relationship between self
awareness and select leadership styles.
 Objective 4: To study the extent of select leadership styles in
Information Technology industry.
4
Literature Review
Understanding Self Awareness
Self-awareness has been defined as one’s ability to self-observe
(Wicklund, 1975) and to precisely evaluate one’s behavior with respect to
set norms (Atwater and Yammarino, 1992). Self-awareness is the practice
of reflecting on and accurately assessing one’s behaviors and skills as
they are manifested in workplace interactions (Church, 1997).
Malcolm Higgs (2002) has described self awareness as “the
awareness of our own feelings and the ability to recognize and manage
these”. Goleman (1998) researched extensively on emotional intelligence,
has said that self awareness is a component of emotional intelligence.
Self awareness involves leaders being aware of their strengths and
weaknesses and possessing the ability to be frank and honest about
them (Goleman, 1998). He also said that self awareness in turn has three
components - emotional awareness, self assessment and self confidence.
Understanding Leadership
In
his
conceptualizes
path
the
breaking
constructs
book,
of
Leadership,
transactional
Burns
and
(1978)
transforming
leadership. Since its publication, it is considered the source from which
new leadership theories and approaches have emerged (Bryman, 1992).
Bass and Avolio (1994) broadened and enriched Burns’ (1978) model
5
with the introduction of their full range of leadership model. Drawing an
inference from Burns’ (1978) work, several researchers have begun
exploring transcending leadership as a discrete construct. Though briefly
mentioned by Burns, neither he nor Bass and Avolio (1994) delved into
the
prospective
phenomenon
of
transcending
leadership
to
any
meaningful extent (David Jordan 2005).
New Paradigm in Transformational Leadership
Metcalfe and Metcalfe (2005) brought in new dimension to
transformational leadership, “Genuine concern for others’ well-being and
development”.
They summarized that the US models still focus on
characteristics of the leader, and often at senior level of leadership, such
as a chief executive resulting in
‘heroic’ models of leadership, in
contrast, their study with its focus on middle level leaders, reveals more
of a ‘leader as servant’ notion of leadership.
Metcalfe and Metcalfe developed new model they called it as the
Transformation Leadership Questionnaire (TLQ). The present study
developed
a
transformational
leadership
questionnaire
based
on
components of TLQ for the purpose of this research.
Servant Leadership
The focus of servant leadership is not on self but rather on others
and the leader is first servant of others (Greenleaf, 1977). The servant
6
leaders first and foremost activity is to serve and meet the needs of
others (Russell & Stone, 2002). The philosophy of the servant leader as
seen by Greenleaf (1977) is distinct to say the least. He said that the
servant leader puts others first, trusts everyone unless they prove
themselves untrustworthy.
Patterson's (2003) doctoral research has come up with a servant
leadership model that includes seven behaviors as exhibited by a servant
leader while interacting with his/her followers. These seven behaviors are
agapao love, humility, altruism, vision, trust, empowerment, and service.
Transcendental Leadership
Transcendental
leadership
addresses
the
weakness
of
Transformational / Charismatic leadership by providing the motives
behind a leader’s practices, that is, altruistic love, a sense of wholeness,
harmony and well-being produced through care, concern, appreciation of
both self and others and authentic selfless concern for people.
Transcendental leaders help followers feel powerful and enabled to make
decisions, accomplish work, and lead on their own (Fairholm, G.1996;
Fry, 2003; Korac-Kakabadse et al., 2002). Transcendental leadership is a
“visioning process”, an “ethical process that reflects requirements for
legitimacy for both leader influence and follower empowerment to
facilitate value congruence” (Fry 2003, Fry et al, 2005). Transcendental
7
leadership, in essence, is both follower-centered and leader-centered
process.
David Jordan, (2005) in his doctoral dissertation on Phenomenological
Study
of
transcendental
leaders,
provides
following
as
the
key
components of transcendental leaders:

Others’ interest

Determined resolve

Emotional intelligence
David Jordan’s (2005) construct includes all the components of
transcendental leadership as described by various authors (Cardona
2000, SN Chary 2007, Burns 1978, Ronna 2000). However he does not
include
Spirituality
dimension
in
his
model
of
Transcendental
Leadership.
Spiritual component of Transcendental Leadership
Fairholm (1996) suggested that Transactional, Transformational,
and Transcendental leadership are ranked along a continuum from
managerial control to spiritual holism. Transcendental leadership is
concerned about the whole person in a more holistic leadership that
integrates the four essences of human existence, the body (physical),
mind (logical/rational thought), heart (emotions, feelings), and spirit,
8
whereas Transactional and Transformational leadership only address the
former three, but no spirit (Fry, 2003).
As a leader develops along the Transactional-TransformationalTranscendental hierarchical continuum, the leader’s spirituality in terms
of consciousness, moral character, and faith become more developed.
Transcendental leaders use values, attitudes, and behaviors (altruistic
love, hope/faith, vision) to intrinsically motivate followers, and thus,
increase the followers’ senses of spiritual calling (life has meaning, make
a difference and the resulting positive organizational outcomes (Fry,
2003; Fry, et al, 2005).
Based on the above discussion, the researcher has added the
spirituality dimension to the Transcendental Leadership construct
developed by David Jordan (2005).
Self Awareness and its Relationship with Leadership Styles
Kombarakaran et al. (2008) stated that as self-awareness helps
leaders
overcome
blind
spots
and
identify
their
strengths
and
weaknesses, they are able to build stronger relationships, and build a
culture (Abrahams, 2007) that will increase the likelihood of follower
success.
Rath and Conchie (2008) pointed out that the awareness
leaders need to know about their own strengths and weaknesses which is
important for team-building.
9
Leadership Styles and Demographics
A number of studies have been conducted which discussed the
influence of demographic variables on leadership styles. Krishnan and
Park (1998) noted that demographic variables have considerable
influence on the leadership styles of top managers. Hambrick and Mason
(1984) proposed that demographic variables such as age, tenure as a
leader, functional area background (which lines of business the leader is
working), and educational qualification are all important aspects of
leadership that influence organizational success.
Based on the above literature review managerial hierarchy,
organization type, gender, age, work experience, managerial experience,
span of control, qualification, and lines of business were added as
demographic variables for the present research.
Gap in the literature as per the review of literature, research questions and
the opportunity for contribution.
After reviewing the literature in above sections, it was
observed that:

The literature reviewed could not find significant evidence of
empirical
relationship
established
between
self
awareness
(measured via self rating questionnaire) and leadership styles (viz.
transactional leadership, transformational leadership, and servant
leadership).
10
o Research Question: Is there a relationship between Self
awareness and different leadership styles when measured
empirically?

Some discussions are quoted in literature survey on relationship
between demographic variables and the leadership styles, but
there appears to be very little empirical research on inferring
relationship between demographic variables and leadership styles
/ self awareness.
o Research
Question:
Demographic
Is
variables
there
and
a
relationship
leadership
between
styles
/
self
awareness when measured empirically?

The literature reviewed above provides an opportunity to measure
transcendental leadership.

There
were
evidences
of
measuring
leadership
styles
of
transactional and transformational at a single occurrence and
servant leadership as a separate occurrence, but no evidence of
measuring four leadership styles in a single occurrence, providing
an opportunity to measure all four leadership styles at a single
occurrence.
Based on the above observations table below provides a schematic
overview of the approach followed in the present study.
11
Relationships to be tested between leadership styles and self awareness and
demographic variables
Managerial Hierarchy
Organization Type
Gender
Qualification
Age of Respondent
Work Experience
Span of Control
Managerial Experience
Lines of Business





















Leadership Transformational 
Style
Servant
































Self Awareness
Between Components
of Leadership Style
Demographic Variables
Self Awareness
Transactional
Transcendental
Based on the gap identified, relationships as listed in table above
are proposed to be tested during this research work.
12
Research Methodology
This chapter discusses methodology used in this research. It
describes the research design, questionnaire development, sample, and
data collection procedure. This chapter discusses in detail the method
used to determine whether there is a relationship between the four
leadership styles (transformational leadership, transactional leadership,
servant leadership, and transcendental leadership) and self awareness. It
provides descriptions of the process used to measure leadership styles
and self awareness.
Research Design
This exploratory study uses an approach with a survey design
suitable for the information technology (IT) environment. This study uses
a cross sectional design and uses correlation analysis to determine the
strength and direction of the relationship between self awareness and
leadership styles.
Hypotheses
Based on objectives and also based on gap in literature as discussed
in earlier the following hypotheses have been formulated.
Ha 1: There exists a positive relationship between self awareness and
leadership styles.

Ha 1.1: There exists a positive correlation between self awareness
and transactional leadership.
13

Ha 1.2: There exists a positive correlation between self awareness
and transformational leadership.

Ha 1.3: There exists a positive correlation between self awareness
and servant leadership.
Ha2: There exists a positive relationship between self awareness and
components of leadership styles.

Ha 2.1: There exists a positive correlation between self awareness
and components of transactional leadership

Ha 2.2: There exists a positive correlation between self awareness
and components of transformational leadership

Ha 2.3: There exists a positive correlation between self awareness
and components of servant leadership
Ha3: There exists a relationship between leadership styles and
demographic variables.

Ha 3.1.1: There exists a relationship between transactional
leadership and managerial hierarchy

Ha 3.1.2: There exists a relationship between transactional
leadership and organization type, gender, age, qualification, work
experience, span of control, managerial experience and lines of
business

Ha 3.2.1: There exists a relationship between transformational
leadership and managerial hierarchy & managerial experience
14

Ha 3.2.2: There exists a relationship between transformational
leadership and organization type, gender, age, qualification, work
experience, span of control, and lines of business.

Ha 3.3.1: There exists a relationship between servant leadership
and managerial hierarchy & managerial experience

Ha 3.3.2: There exists a relationship between servant leadership
and organization type, gender, age, qualification, work experience,
span of control, and lines of business

Ha 3.4.1: There exists a relationship between transcendental
leadership and managerial hierarchy & managerial experience.

Ha 3.4.2: There exists a relationship between transcendental
leadership organization type, gender, age, qualification, work
experience, span of control, and lines of business.
Ha 4: There exists a relationship between
Self Awareness and
demographic variables.

Ha 4.1: There exists a relationship between self awareness and
managerial experience

Ha 4.2: There exists a relationship between self awareness and
managerial hierarchy, organization type, gender, age, qualification,
work experience, span of control, and lines of business.
15
Scope
The scope of the research was limited to a quantitatively-oriented
research question: “Is there a relationship between Self Awareness and
Leadership?”
Qualitatively-oriented
consideration,
“Why
does
a
relationship exists between Self Awareness and Leadership?” is not
within the scope of the research.
The leadership styles measured here are limited to Transactional,
Transformational, Servant and Transcendental Leadership only
From the Indian literature (traditional and ancient) context, self
awareness was discussed in many scriptures like, the Vedas and
Bhagavad-Gita. Considering these definitions and discussions become
out of scope for the present research.
Research Sample
The sample was taken from 12 organizations representing
Information Technology companies in Hyderabad, India. The target
sample is from managers in the software industry who, on a daily basis,
are required to exhibit leadership in their work life. Because the goal of
this study is to establish a theoretical model via empirical study, testing
new concept which can be replicated by future studies, a convenience
sampling method was used.
The sample considered for this research represents young
managerial population akin to the IT industry, with a good mix of gender,
16
work experience, managerial experience, qualification and lines of
business. The managerial hierarchy and span of control of the sample is
again a representative of flat organization structures that are prevalent in
the IT industry. The sample has a good representation from all the
components of the software development lifecycle across the industry.
Data Analysis Tools
Andy Field (2006) in his book ‘Discovering Statistics using SPSS’
published by ‘Sage’, has discussed specific statistical techniques to be
used in research scenarios as encountered in the present research. He
has suggested following techniques:

To determine reliability of questionnaire : Cronbach’s alpha

To test the normality of the data : Kolmogorov-Smirnov test
(Lilliefors Significance Correction)

To find out internal consistency of the questionnaire : Pearson’s
Correlations / Cronbach Alpha

To find out linear relationship between two variables: Bi Variate
Correlations,
Coefficients
of
Determination
and
Regression
Coefficients

Testing equal variance between groups: Levene’s Test for Equality
of Variance

To compare several means of groups : Analysis of Variance (
ANOVA) and ‘Post hoc’ analysis
17

To identify dominant components of leadership: Factor analysis (
principle component analysis)
18
Statistical Analysis of Data
Reliability of the Questionnaire
The reliability values for the questionnaire are tabulated in table
below. Nunnally (1978) suggests that researchers should strive for alpha
values of 0.70 or higher. The table 4.1 highlights that all the scales are
reliable and are robust enough for analyzing and drawing statistical
inferences.
Reliability of the Questionnaire
Cronbach's
Alpha
Number of
Questions
Total Questionnaire
0.907
59
Transactional Leadership
0.701*
8*
Transformational Leadership
0.907
28
Servant Leadership
0.887
24
Transcendental Leadership
0.919
48
Self Awareness
0.729
6
Reliability
Tests for Hypotheses
Correlation between Self Awareness and Transactional Leadership
Is there a correlation between transactional leadership and self
awareness? The results of the test for hypotheses Ha 1.1 indicates that
there is no correlation.
The significance of this result is that self
awareness does not contribute to transactional leadership.
19
Correlation between Self Awareness and Transformational Leadership
The results for test of the hypothesis Ha 1.2 indicate that there is a
positive relationship with a correlation of 0.534. Transformational
leadership was regressed against self awareness and found that these
variables can be fitted in a regression model as follows:
Equation 1: Transformational Leadership = 64.19 + 2.229 * Self
Awareness
Correlation between Self Awareness and Servant Leadership
Is there a correlation between servant leadership and self
awareness?. The results of the test for the hypothesis Ha 1.3 indicate
that there is a positive correlation of 0.532. Servant leadership was
regressed against self awareness and it was found that these variables
can be fitted in a regression model as follows:
Equation 2: Servant Leadership = 53.683 + 1.920 * Self Awareness
Correlation between Self Awareness and Transcendental Leadership
Unlike all three leadership styles (transformational, servant, and
transactional), transcendental leadership includes emotional intelligence
and in turn includes self awareness, as part of its construct.
Relationship between Leadership Styles and Demographic Variables
Results of test for hypotheses are tabulated below
20
Qualification
Lines of Business
Gender
Type of Organization
Span of Control
Management
Experience
Work Experience
Demographic Variables vs.
Leadership Styles
Managerial
Hierarchy
Age of Respondents
Summary of Relationship between Demographics and Leadership Styles
Transactional Leadership
R
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
Transformational Leadership
R
R
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
Servant Leadership
R
R
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
Transcendental Leadership
R
R
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
R
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
Self Awareness
R= Relationship Exist NR = Relationship does not Exist
This table indicates the relationship matrix between the demographic
variable with leadership style and self awareness.
Levels of Self Awareness and Leadership Styles in IT Industry
Given in table below are the averages scores of each of the
leadership style and self awareness and their components from all of the
respondents. These averages provide insights in to the leadership levels
in the information technology (IT) industry.
21
Average Scores for each component of leadership style and self awareness
Leadership
Style / Self
Awareness
Transactional
Leadership
Transformation
al Leadership
Transcendental
Leadership
Servant
Leadership
Self Awareness
Components
Contingent Reward
Management By
Exception - Active
Management By
Exception - Passive
Leading The
organization
Leading and
Developing Others
Personal Qualities
Determined Resolve
Emotional Intelligence
Others' Interest
Spirituality
Agapao Love
Humility
Altruism
Vision
Trust
Empowerment
Service
Emotional Self
Awareness
Self Assessment
Self Confidence
Average of
the total
Responses
8.77
24.73
Average
Maximum
Score
Possible
35.67
45.00
118.31
140.00
194.35
240.00
100.30
120.00
24.29
30.00
2.18
38.20
38.06
42.06
37.52
78.08
49.49
29.25
24.99
8.42
7.67
12.41
12.94
12.88
20.99
8.02
8.20
8.07
Above table describes that the leadership levels are moderate on an
average across IT industry in the selected sample of respondents.
Dominant Components of Leadership Styles
The researcher further analyzed as to what components / factors
of these three leadership styles that were dominant in contributing to the
particular leadership style. Factor analysis is used to identify the
dominant factors which were extracted by using principle component
analysis. Table below describes the dominant components of leadership
styles.
22
Dominant components of leadership styles
Transformational Leadership
Passionate about Values
Servant Leadership
Charisma
Transcendental Leadership
Spirituality inner self
Creativity
Visionary
Spirituality at Work
Resilience
Leading others
Empathy
Positive Attitude
Flexibility
Endurance
Passion for Goal Achievement
Creativity
Visionary
Empowerment
Foresight
Charisma
Team Building
Altruism (self less service)
Emotional Self Awareness
Leading the people
Healing
Passionate about Values
Understanding Unspoken
Developing Others
‘Morality, Ethics and Integrity’
Developing Others
Persuasion
Flexibility
Flexibility
Listening
Understanding Unspoken
Foresight
Empowerment
Passion for Goal Achievement
'Morality, Ethics and Integrity'
‘Morality, Ethics and Integrity’
Empowerment
Leading by Example
Understanding Unspoken
Developing Others
Visionary
Resilience
Persuasion
Self Assessment
Creativity
Job Knowledge
Healing
Conclusion and Recommendation
Conclusion
Tests for hypotheses indicate that there appears to be a positive
correlation between self awareness and leadership styles, especially
transformational leadership and servant leadership. In this research the
measurement of self awareness as a separate construct is demonstrated.
One of the major outcomes of this research is that transformational
leadership and servant leadership can be estimated for a given score of
self awareness
23
Research questions, formulated based on the gap after review of
literature, are answered by testing the hypotheses as follows:
Hypotheses
Result
Ha1: There exists a linear relationship between self awareness
and leadership styles.
 Ha 1a: There exists a positive correlation between self
awareness and transactional leadership.
Not
Accepted


Ha 1b: There exists a positive correlation between self
awareness and transformational leadership.
Accepted
Ha 1c: There exists a positive correlation between self
awareness and servant leadership.
Accepted
Ha 2: There exists a linear relationship between self awareness
and components of leadership styles.

Ha 2a: There exists a positive correlation between self
awareness and components of transactional leadership
Not
Accepted
24
Hypotheses
Result

Ha2b: There exists a positive correlation between self
awareness and components of transformational leadership
Accepted

Ha 2c: There exists a positive correlation between self
awareness and components of servant leadership
Accepted
Ha 3: There exists a relationship between leadership styles and
demographic variables.

Ha 3a: There exists a relationship between transactional
leadership and managerial hierarchy

Ha 3a: There exists a relationship between transactional
leadership and organization type, gender, age, qualification,
work experience, span of control, managerial experience and
lines of business


Ha 3b: There exists a relationship between transformational
leadership and managerial hierarchy and managerial
experience
Ha 3b: There exists a relationship between transformational
leadership and organization type, gender, age, qualification,
work experience, span of control, and lines of business.
Accepted
Not
Accepted
Accepted
Not
Accepted

Ha 3c: There exists a relationship between servant leadership
and managerial hierarchy, managerial experience
Accepted

Ha 3c: There exists a relationship between servant leadership
and organization type, gender, age, qualification, work
experience, span of control, and lines of business
Not
Accepted


Ha 3d: There exists a relationship between transcendental
leadership and managerial hierarchy and managerial
experience.
Ha 3d: There exists a relationship between transcendental
leadership organization type, gender, age, qualification, work
experience, span of control, and lines of business.
Accepted
Not
Accepted
25
Hypotheses
Result
Ha 4: There exists a relationship between self awareness and
managerial experience
Ha 4: There exists a relationship between self awareness and
managerial hierarchy, organization type, gender, age,
qualification, work experience, span of control, and lines of
business.
Accepted
Not
Accepted
Recommendation for Future Research
The context of self awareness from the Indian philosophy and
ethos has not been explored in the present study. Future studies can
explore self awareness from India philosophical aspect and try to
establish a relationship with leadership.
The present research infers linear relationships between self
awareness and leadership styles, it did not study about why the
relationship exists since this was out of the scope of the present study.
In future the different aspects of the existence of the relationship can be
This study infers a relationship between some of the demographic
variables
like
managerial
hierarchy,
managerial
experience,
and
leadership styles and established no relationship between other variables
like Age of respondents, Work Experience, Type of Organization, Gender,
Qualification, Span of Control, and Lines of Business. Research can
further replicate and validate these results in other domains.
26
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