Research paperNursing leadership

Herzing NU 451 Unit 6 Assessment

Describing four generations is the easy part and it earns the fewest marks. The assignment turns on whether your unit is actually a team and what you would do about it.

Editorial process

Last reviewed · August 25, 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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Interpret the task
Assignment instructions
Deliverables
Proposed outline
Research plan
Reference shortlist
Final review

Generational description is the setup, not the assignment

Four of the five requirements are analytical and only the first is descriptive, so budget your six to eight pages accordingly. Generational characterisation is also where this paper most easily goes wrong, because the research on generational differences at work is far weaker than the popular literature implies and effect sizes are small next to differences of role, tenure and life stage. A stronger paper says that: it reports the mix on the unit, notes the patterns the assigned article describes, and then attributes what it observes to the specific thing driving it, such as experience with the documentation system rather than birth year. Doing that also protects the strengths-and-weaknesses section from turning into a list of stereotypes about colleagues you have to keep working with. Attribution is also more defensible than description, because it points at something you could change. That is also a kinder finding to write about colleagues you will still be working beside.

The team assessment needs a standard applied rather than an impression given, so define what makes a functional team first and then measure your unit against it. Shared goals, role clarity, structured communication, psychological safety and mutual accountability are all defensible criteria and all have literature behind them, and psychological safety in particular has a measurement tradition you can cite. Then let the plan follow from where the unit actually fails those criteria, because a plan that is not diagnostic is a list of team building activities. Transformational leadership gives you four components to structure it with, idealised influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualised consideration, and the last of those is what connects the plan back to the generational analysis: individualised consideration is the answer to a mixed workforce, not a uniform intervention. Finish with outcomes stated as observable measures. A uniform intervention aimed at a mixed workforce is precisely what the assigned article is arguing against.

Likely learning objectives

Treat generational description as setup rather than as the analysis.
Attribute observed differences to their actual drivers.
Assess team function against named, citable criteria.
Structure a plan with the four components of transformational leadership.

Assignment instructions

Read the full question

Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.

Team Building Project Instructions Read the article, “Multigenerational Challenges: Team-Building for Positive Clinical Workforce Outcomes “Preview the document (pdf) For this assignment, you will be writing a paper and addressing the following: Using the information in the article, assess the mix of personnel on your floor/unit in your workplace. Describe your workforce, in terms of generational diversity. Identify the strengths and weaknesses of their work abilities as you have seen them. Herzing NU 451 Unit 6 Assessment Assess this group’s functioning as a team. Use the information in your readings and in the current literature to describe what makes a functional team. If you were the leader, describe a plan to coalesce this group into a functional team. Use the article and other readings for this information. Apply transformational leadership strategies to your plan, and state the outcomes you would like to see. Paper Requirements: This paper will be 6-8 pages long, with at least 6 references, in APA format. It will have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion, a cover page, and a reference page. Use APA headings to separate sections. Upload to your eportfolio tab #4. A zero will be given if the assignment is not uploaded to your eportfolio.

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.

What NU 451 Unit 6 requires

01A 6-8 page paper in APA format with at least 6 references.
02An assessment of the personnel mix on your floor or unit, using the assigned article.
03A description of the workforce in terms of generational diversity, with strengths and weaknesses.
04An assessment of the group's functioning as a team, with a description of what makes a functional team.
05A plan, as leader, to coalesce the group into a functional team.
06Transformational leadership strategies applied to the plan, with the outcomes you would like to see.
07An introduction, body, conclusion, cover page, reference page and APA headings, uploaded to eportfolio tab 4.