Q1) Apply French and Raven’s bases of power to Jake and Terry. Explain your answer.

Ans: - We know that French and Ravens have 5 bases of power:-

(1) Coercive

(2) Reward

(3) Legitimate

(4) Referent

(5) Expert

According to the case, Jake used the power of legitimate and expert, where legitimate power is referred to
as an effective power and formal power. It often comes from higher authorities where an individual of an
organization receives the power of control options and praise others . Again he used the expert power
where the expert has an effect on the behavior of a few other individuals with the aid of providing their
concepts and skills. Then we can also see Jake used his referent power which is the power that has the
capability to change the identification based entirely on uniqueness and respect they have for his or her
power holder. Because in this case, Jake referred Terry to the organization and additionally mentored and
guided him professionally. On the other hand, Terry has been working in Dutchman for seven years and
managed to gain the power of an expert , in which he can handle & supervise numerous responsibilities of
Dutchman corporation. He has additionally designed his personal space so that even his supervisors go to
him for various workplaces. Terry also applied the Coercive power, where Coercive power in sense
means that a leader can punish a worker or group of members through this power. Furthermore, we can
see that Terry has made a job schedule within the department to punish or appreciate his fellow
colleagues within the department.

Q2) If Terry takes the job of supervisor; his bases of power may shift. Explain this change.

Ans: - Yes, when Terry takes over as supervisor, his bases of power will shift from ‘Expert powers’ to
‘Coercive and Reward powers’.

According to the case; we have observed that Terry has been a well known customer service specialist
while working in Dutchman, because he knew how to fix any unusual situation at that place. Due to these,
his fellow colleague used to seek help and advises from him & so, Terry used to love the way they respect
and give attention to him.

But, when he will be switched to the marketing department, his expert powers will change to coercive,
where coercive power means a manager’s ability to compel an individual to obey an order by threatening
the employees with punishment, if the employee fails to meet the order.
Therefore, in a different environment Terry would be forced to do what he doesn’t wants at times such as
agreeing to his seniors orders due to lack in his experts insights.

Hence, ‘Coercive power’ is indirectly related to ‘Reward power’, where reward power means to give
promotions, bonuses, interesting work assignments & training opportunities. But the issue of this power
base is that it’s not that strong as it seems, because it’s seen that some supervisors hardly have the control
over higher salaries and some managers are totally powerless to promotions on their own. Therefore
overall the reward power would only create disappointment for Terry.