| Course | NURS 6201 Leadership in Nursing and Healthcare |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 3 |
| Paper type | Leadership style analysis |
| Length | About 660 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NURS 6201 Week 3
Leading the Move to Team Nursing: A Situational Leadership Analysis
Student Name
College of Nursing, Walden University
NURS 6201: Leadership in Nursing and Healthcare
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Leading the Move to Team Nursing: A Situational Leadership Analysis
The Unit and the Change
My composite 32-bed medical-surgical unit is moving from primary nursing, in which each registered nurse cares for a set of patients from admission to discharge, to team nursing, in which a registered nurse leads a small team, typically with one practical nurse and one assistant alongside. The change affects each group differently. Senior registered nurses, most with more than ten years on the unit, will become team leaders; most did not ask for the role and several oppose it. Newer registered nurses will also lead teams, sooner than they expected. Four licensed practical nurses are joining the unit and have never worked in its team structure. Nursing assistants will have their tasks redrawn around team rather than individual assignments. Charge nurses already run the assignment board and will keep doing so.
The Model
Hersey et al. (2013) argue that no single leadership style fits every situation. The right leader behavior depends on the follower's readiness for a particular task, meaning both the ability and the willingness to do it. The model pairs four levels of readiness with four styles: directing, for followers who are unable and unsure; coaching, for those who are willing but not yet able; supporting, for those who are able but unwilling or insecure; and delegating, once a follower brings both the skill and the will. Readiness is task-specific, so the same nurse can need direction on one task and delegation on another.
Styles by Group
Directing for the arriving practical nurses in their first weeks. They are able practitioners but new to this unit's patients, routines and team roles. For now they need clear instructions about which tasks they own, how and when to report changes, and to whom. Under national delegation guidelines, the delegating registered nurse is accountable for matching tasks to the delegatee's competence (National Council of State Boards of Nursing, 2016), so clarity at this stage protects both the practical nurses and the team leaders.
Coaching for nursing assistants. They are willing, but their tasks are being redrawn, and they need both direction and explanation of why the new pattern works.
Supporting for senior registered nurses. They are fully able to lead teams; their difficulty is willingness. Directing them would be insulting and would deepen resistance. What they need is involvement in designing how teams work and a manager who listens to their objections.
Delegating for charge nurses. They already manage the assignment board well. They need authority and resources, not supervision.
Why Not Servant Leadership
Greenleaf (1977) described the servant leader as one who serves first, putting followers' growth and needs ahead of the leader's own goals. A review of servant leadership research identified its defining focus as follower-oriented development and concern for followers' interests (Eva et al., 2019). The approach appeals to me, and for the senior nurses it overlaps with the supporting style. But as the organizing model for this change, it fails at the point of greatest risk: the arriving practical nurses. In their first weeks they do not need a leader who asks what they need; they need a leader who tells them clearly what they are responsible for, because patient safety depends on it. Servant leadership has no clear account of when to direct, and this change requires direction for some staff from the first day.
What the Model Leaves Unaddressed
Situational leadership says how to lead each group, but not how to lead the relationships between groups. The most likely problems in the first month will arise between senior team leaders and the practical nurses they delegate to, and the model has little to say about conflict between followers. It also treats readiness as something the leader assesses, which risks the leader's view replacing the follower's. I will need a separate approach to team conflict and a way of checking my readiness judgments with the charge nurses.
References
Eva, N., Robin, M., Sendjaya, S., van Dierendonck, D., & Liden, R. C. (2019). Servant leadership: A systematic review and call for future research. The Leadership Quarterly, 30(1), 111-132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2018.07.004
Greenleaf, R. K. (1977). Servant leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness. Paulist Press.
Hersey, P., Blanchard, K. H., & Johnson, D. E. (2013). Management of organizational behavior: Leading human resources (10th ed.). Pearson.
National Council of State Boards of Nursing. (2016). National guidelines for nursing delegation. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 7(1), 5-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2155-8256(16)31035-3
The Walden NURS 6201 Week 3 instructions
The third NURS 6201 week usually asks you to analyze which leadership style or model fits a situation. You describe the situation, explain the model, apply it to specific groups, compare it with an alternative and note its limits. Faculty score fit, so praising a model in general earns little. Hersey and Blanchard and the team nursing studies belong in APA 7. A readiness table helps for situational leadership. Another model can be defended if fit is shown. Time spent on the rejected model shows judgment. NURS 6201 faculty want each staff group named with its readiness and matched style, the alternative model explained and the model's limits stated. Use a table.
Inside the NURS 6201 Week 3 example
The paper opens with the unit rather than the model: who works there, what the team nursing directive changes for each group, and how ready each group is for its new work. Hersey and Blanchard's model is introduced next for its central claim, that the right leader behavior depends on the follower's readiness for a particular task. Styles are then assigned group by group: directing for the arriving practical nurses in their first weeks, coaching for nursing assistants whose tasks are being redrawn, supporting for senior nurses who can lead teams but do not want to, delegating for charge nurses who already run the assignment board. Greenleaf's servant leadership receives a full paragraph and is rejected for this change, with the reason tied to the newest staff. A closing section admits what the chosen model leaves unaddressed.
Reading the NURS 6201 Week 3 rubric
Fit is what a style analysis is scored on, and a paper praising a model's virtues in general terms leaves the application criterion close to empty however accurately the model is summarized. The biggest block of points in most versions rewards the match between a named style and a named group doing a named task. Rejecting an alternative earns separately, because it is the only visible sign that the choice was a choice, and several sections say so in their criteria. Accuracy about the model counts too: readiness described as a fixed trait misstates Hersey and Blanchard in a way readers catch at once. Nursing sources are preferred over management summaries where both exist. Organization loses ground mainly when the analysis abandons the unit for pages of theory.
Common NURS 6201 Week 3 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Style analyses lose credit when they praise a model without applying it. Map each group to a style. Another common gap is treating all staff the same. Assess readiness by group. Writers also skip the rejected alternative. Explain why it fits less well. Avoid claiming the model solves everything. Name what it misses. Use a table. Close with the first leadership action. Writers also forget the patients and families, who also adjust to a new care model. Mention them. Leaders also tend to overlook their own default style. Reflect on it. Cite the model's originators.
Get a NURS 6201 Week 3 example written to your instructions
Share the prompt, the rubric and any list of models your section limits you to, and a style analysis built on an invented unit and your chosen model comes back. No charge on the first custom request, delivered in 24 to 48 hours. The staff described in it do not exist, so none of your colleagues appear or need to.
More NURS 6201 papers and MSN samples
- NURS 6201 Week 1: Discussion Post
- NURS 6201 Week 2: Leadership Self-Assessment
- NURS 6201 Week 4: Team Conflict Case Analysis
- NURS 6201 Week 5: Discussion Post
- NURS 6201 Week 6: Change Management Plan
- NURS 6201 Week 7: Stakeholder Analysis
- NURS 6201 Week 8: Discussion Post
- NURS 6201 Week 9: Communication Plan
- NURS 6201 Week 10: Leadership Development Plan
- NURS 6201 Week 11: Reflection
- NURS 6221 Week 3: Staffing Plan
- NURS 6053 Week 3: Healthcare Issue Analysis
- NURS 6223 Week 3: Root Cause Analysis
- NURS 6052 Week 3: Methodology Crosswalk
NURS 6201 Week 3 questions, answered
Can a different model be defended instead of situational leadership?
Yes. Situational leadership was chosen here because an imposed care-model change leaves groups at very different levels of readiness, which is exactly what that model addresses. Transformational, servant or authentic leadership could each be defended for another unit or another change. What carries the marks is the fit argued between the model and the people it would run on, plus the rival you set aside.
Why does the paper spend so long on the rejected model?
Because a choice with no alternative looks like a default. Graders at this level read the rejected model's paragraph for fairness: it has to appear in a form its own advocates would recognize before the paper explains why it fails in this setting. Here servant leadership loses on one concrete point, the practical nurses on their first shifts, rather than on a general preference.
Does the analysis need a readiness table?
Many sections do not require one, but the sample includes a short table because it lets a reader check the style assignments against the assessment. Prose can carry the same information if your format rules discourage tables. Either way, every rating should name its task, since readiness in this model is always readiness for something specific.
Where can I find a free NURS 6201 Week 3 sample paper?
The team nursing situational leadership analysis is printed here with the change, the model, styles by group, why not servant leadership and the model's limits.
Why is servant leadership rejected in NURS 6201 Week 3?
Because groups with low readiness for new roles need more direction than servant leadership gives during this change.