Four theory families surveyed and one chosen: Situational Leadership II fitted to three nurses and three tasks on an oncology unit, its thin evidence admitted, in NU420's Unit 2 analysis. Searches like "nu 420 unit 2 assignment example", "nu420 unit 2 sample" and "nu420 unit 2 example" land here.
Expert at One Task, Beginner at the Next: Why Situational Leadership II Fits an Oncology Charge Nurse
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
NU420: Leadership and Management in the Changing Health Care Environment
Unit 2 Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Composite unit and nurses written as a model document. No real person is described.
The Test Each Theory Must Pass
Each family of theory is judged on one question: what would it tell a charge nurse to do at the start of a shift, when deciding how closely to supervise each nurse?
Survey
Trait theories. They describe qualities effective leaders tend to share, such as confidence and integrity (Marquis & Huston, 2021). They say little a charge nurse could act on at 0700.
Behavioral theories. They describe two dimensions, attention to the task and attention to people, and suggest leaders vary in how much of each they show. They offer no rule for when to use each.
Transformational leadership. It describes a leader who inspires followers toward a shared vision over time. It fits a manager building a unit's culture over months, but a charge nurse rotating through the schedule rarely has that kind of relationship with each nurse.
Situational leadership. It holds that the right style depends on the follower's readiness for a specific task. It answers the start-of-shift question directly.
The Fit
Situational Leadership II describes four development levels, from D1, an enthusiastic beginner with low competence, to D4, a self-reliant achiever, and four matching leadership styles: directing, coaching, supporting and delegating (Blanchard et al., 2013). Its unit of analysis is a person on a specific task, which matches how oncology competence actually develops: unevenly, task by task.
Three composite nurses against three tasks:
Nurse A, eight months out of school. Central line dressing change: D4, delegate. Blood transfusion: D3, support. Hazardous drug spill: D1, direct.
Nurse B, three years in oncology. Line care: D4, delegate. Transfusion: D4, delegate. Spill: D2, coach.
Nurse C, new to oncology after five years in surgery. Line care: D3, support. Transfusion: D4, delegate. Spill: D1, direct.
Nurse A's row shows why a single label for a nurse fails: she is expert at line care and a beginner at spill response in the same shift.
Limits
The model is widely taught, but its research support is weaker than its popularity suggests. A test of three versions of situational leadership theory found only partial support for its predictions about which style works best at each level (Thompson & Vecchio, 2009). Development levels are also judged by the leader, and a charge nurse may misjudge them.
What Changes
Before assigning a task that carries risk, I will ask the nurse how many times she has done it and how confident she feels, and match my involvement to her answer for that task rather than to her years in practice. A nurse with ten years of practice may still need direction on a task she has never done, and a nurse with ten months may need only to be left alone on one she does daily.
References
Blanchard, K., Zigarmi, P., & Zigarmi, D. (2013). Leadership and the one minute manager (Updated ed.). William Morrow.
Marquis, B. L., & Huston, C. J. (2021). Leadership roles and management functions in nursing: Theory and application (10th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.
Thompson, G., & Vecchio, R. P. (2009). Situational leadership theory: A test of three versions. The Leadership Quarterly, 20(5), 837-848. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2009.06.014
How this NU420 Unit 2 example is structured
The survey is short on purpose, because the prompt asks which theory fits practice, not for a history of the field. Each family is judged on one question: what it would tell a charge nurse to do at the start of a shift. Trait theory says little that can be acted on; behavioral approaches offer two dimensions but no rule for when to use each; transformational leadership describes a relationship built over months, which a charge nurse rotating through the schedule rarely has. Situational leadership answers the question directly, and the paper's central claim is that its unit of analysis, a person on a specific task, matches how oncology competence actually develops. The limits section follows rather than precedes the argument, and a closing paragraph names what the charge nurse will change: asking about the task before assigning it.
Get an NU420 Unit 2 example written to your instructions
Which theories does your Unit 2 reading cover, and what kind of unit do you work on? Answers to both, with the instructions and rubric, produce a model analysis that commits to one theory and admits its weaknesses. Expect it in 24-48h, and expect no bill for a first request. Choosing your own theory remains part of the assignment. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
NU420 Unit 2 questions, answered
Must the paper choose only one theory?
Many prompts ask which theory fits best, and a single choice answers that more clearly than a blend. A second theory can appear as the runner-up, with a sentence on what it would miss. The sample considers transformational leadership seriously before setting it aside, because a charge nurse who changes each shift rarely builds the long relationship that approach assumes.
Is Situational Leadership II the same as Hersey and Blanchard's model?
They share an origin but differ. The original situational model used readiness levels and the styles telling, selling, participating and delegating. Blanchard's later revision renamed them development levels and directing, coaching, supporting and delegating, and changed the curve linking them. Naming the version the reading uses and keeping its vocabulary consistent avoids a common and visible error, since mixed terms signal a confused source.
Can I use my own unit as the example?
Yes, and the paper is stronger for it, provided nobody is identifiable. Describe nurses by experience and role rather than by name, and describe tasks rather than patients. The sample's three nurses are composites built from patterns common on oncology units. Your instructor is grading whether the theory explains real practice, so a genuine example from your own shifts usually carries the argument better than an invented one.