Discussion postChange management

Effective leadership Discussion

Two examples from your own experience, and a third question that quietly does the grading: how the change occurred. That is asking you to run the story through a change theory.

Editorial process

Last reviewed · August 22, 2026

Written by

Maren Caldwell

MSN, RN, CNE

Medical-surgical nursing, pharmacology and NCLEX preparation

Reviewed by

Dr. Tessa Redmond

DNP, RN, CNE

Evidence-based practice and clinical education

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Assignment instructions
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Proposed outline
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Reference shortlist
Final review

How the change occurred is a question about theory

The definition is the easy part but it should still be precise. A change agent is not simply someone who suggests improvements; the role involves identifying a need, building a case, recruiting others, managing the resistance that follows and sustaining the change past the point where attention moves on. Bedside nurses can hold it without any formal authority, and saying so is worth a sentence because the prompt is explicitly about nurses rather than managers. Informal authority is a real category: the nurse other people ask, the one whose practice gets copied, the one who can get a physician to listen. Naming where your own influence came from in each example makes the definition concrete rather than abstract, and it sets up the mechanism question that follows. Say too what a change agent is not, because the contrast sharpens the definition: someone who reports a problem and hands it upward has raised an issue rather than led a change.

The third question is the one that is actually graded, and it is asking for a mechanism. The brief tells you to gain insight into change theories first, which means the examples are meant to be read through one. Pick a theory and use it consistently: Lewin's unfreezing, moving and refreezing is the simplest and works well for a discrete practice change, Rogers' diffusion of innovations is better when the story involves early adopters convincing a sceptical majority, and Kotter's stages fit an organisational change with a coalition and short-term wins. Then narrate each example against it: what created the readiness, who moved first, what resistance appeared and in what form, and what made the change stick afterwards. Resistance is worth naming honestly, since it is usually rational rather than obstructive and often signals a workflow problem the change created. Finish by saying whether each change persisted, and why.

Likely learning objectives

Define the change agent role including the sustaining phase.
Select a change theory suited to the example being described.
Narrate a real change against the stages of that theory.
Treat resistance as information rather than as obstruction.

Assignment instructions

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Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.

Effective leadership can help nurse leaders to bring about a desirable change within the system. Using the Internet, gain adequate insight into change theories and change management, and answer the following questions: What does it mean to be a change agent? Give two examples of when you were a change agent or witnessed another nurse as a change agent What happened and how did the change occur? You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes. Effective leadership Discussion Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages. Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor. The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

Course-wide instructions that accompany this question

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS Discussion Questions (DQ) Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses. Weekly Participation Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. APA Format and Writing Quality Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition. Use of Direct Quotes I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source. LopesWrite Policy For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. Late Policy The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading. Communication Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours. Effective leadership Discussion

Turn the brief into deliverables

01A definition of the change agent role that includes sustaining change.
02Two examples, from your own practice or observed.
03A named change theory applied to the examples.
04The resistance encountered and what form it took.
05A statement of whether each change persisted.