Complete Guide: WGU DCM2 Task 2: Organizational Leadership Analysis and Evaluation

Complete Guide: WGU DCM2 Task 2: Organizational Leadership Analysis and Evaluation

Critical Orientation: What Makes This Task Different from Task 1

Before writing a single word, understand this fundamental distinction: Task 1 was about you as a leader. Task 2 is about someone else — the current leader of a real organization you have personally experienced — analyzed through the lens of that organization’s strengths, weaknesses, and external environment. Every section must demonstrate firsthand organizational experience, not textbook examples or news stories. The evaluator is checking whether you can observe, analyze, and evaluate a real leader in a real organizational context.

Three additional rules that catch students off guard:

Rule 1 — Anonymize everything. Do not use the real name of the organization, the leader, any colleagues, any clients, or any suppliers. Create plausible fictional names and use them consistently throughout. Something like “Greenbridge Community Health Center” or “Apex Distribution Services” is appropriate.

Rule 2 — Use a different theory than Task 1. The rubric is explicit. If you used transformational leadership in Task 1, you cannot use it here. Choose your Task 2 theory before you start writing and verify it is different.

Rule 3 — SWOT has a strict internal/external rule. Strengths and weaknesses are internal. Opportunities and threats are external. Violating this will result in revision requests regardless of writing quality.

PART A: Organizational Description

Step 1 — Choose Your Organization Strategically

Your organization must satisfy these three conditions simultaneously:

• You have direct personal experience with it (you worked there, volunteered, were a patient, a student, a regular member, etc.)
• You can describe its culture, leadership, and operations from firsthand knowledge, not news coverage or secondhand accounts
• You can write about it without revealing confidential, proprietary, or personally identifiable information

The best organizations for this task are ones where you have been a staff member or regular participant — a job, clinical placement, volunteer role, internship, community organization, or religious institution all qualify. Healthcare settings (clinics, hospitals, long-term care facilities) work exceptionally well for nursing students because personal experience is deep and leadership observations are easy to make.

The level you choose matters. You do not need to analyze the entire organization. You may analyze a specific team, department, unit, or division. Choosing a smaller scope gives you richer detail to write about. For example, rather than describing a 500-bed hospital, describe the medical-surgical unit where you worked.

Step 2 — Write the Organizational Description (Requirement A)

Your description must accomplish three things: establish what the organization is, convey that you experienced it firsthand, and introduce its objectives. Aim for 3–5 paragraphs.

Include:

• Type of organization (healthcare provider, nonprofit, retail, manufacturing, education, etc.)
• Mission/purpose — what it does and whom it serves
• Scale — approximate size at the level you are analyzing (number of staff, clients served, geographic reach, etc.)
• Your personal relationship to it — your role, how long you were involved, in what capacity you interacted with this organization
• Its primary objective(s) — the stated or operational goals driving the organization

Write in first person where appropriate. Phrases like “During my three years as a floor technician in this department…” or “As a registered nurse assigned to this unit…” establish personal experience. Generic third-person descriptions read like Wikipedia entries and will not score well.

What NOT to do: Do not write what the organization claims about itself on its website. Describe what you observed, participated in, and experienced directly.

Example opening paragraph (fictional organization, healthcare setting):

“Clearwater Regional Medical Center is a mid-sized nonprofit community hospital serving a largely rural population in the southeastern United States. During my two years as a registered nurse on the cardiac care unit, I worked alongside a team of approximately 22 nurses, three advanced practice providers, and a rotating cadre of attending physicians under the direct supervision of a nurse manager I will refer to as Ms. Rivera. The unit’s primary objective was to deliver evidence-based cardiac care to patients presenting with acute and chronic cardiovascular conditions, with secondary goals of reducing 30-day readmission rates and improving patient satisfaction scores across all service lines.”

Step 3 — Describe Three Leadership Practices of the Current Leader (Requirement A1)

You must describe three specific, observable leadership practices of one named leader (using their fictional name). The rubric defines leadership practices as “routine actions, behaviors, functions, and responsibilities.”

This means: what does this leader actually do on a regular basis? Not their personality traits, not their biography — their observable practices.

Strong practice examples:

• Conducts daily 10-minute team huddles each morning before shift to communicate priorities
• Personally reviews all incident reports within 24 hours and meets individually with involved staff
• Holds monthly one-on-one career development meetings with each team member
• Manages staffing schedules two weeks in advance and adjusts in real time based on patient census
• Facilitates a monthly quality improvement meeting open to all unit staff

Weak practice examples (avoid these):

• “Is a good communicator” — this is a trait, not a practice
• “Cares about the team” — this is a personality description
• “Leads the department” — this is a job title description

Structure for each practice:

For each of the three practices, write 2–3 sentences: name the practice, describe how it is carried out, and note its purpose or effect. One strong paragraph per practice is appropriate.

Step 4 — Discuss How the Current Leader Has Affected Organizational Culture (Requirement A2)

This is a separate discussion from the three practices, though it may reference them. Organizational culture includes shared values, norms, unwritten rules, communication patterns, morale, psychological safety, and team identity.

Your discussion should address:

• What the culture of the unit/organization is like under this leader’s influence
• Specific examples of how the leader’s behavior has shaped that culture
• Whether the cultural influence has been positive, negative, or mixed (honest analysis is fine — you are not writing a recommendation letter)

Example approach:

“Ms. Rivera’s consistent practice of publicly acknowledging staff contributions in team huddles has cultivated a culture of recognition within the unit. Staff routinely referenced appreciation as a reason they remained in their positions despite competitive offers elsewhere. However, her reluctance to address interpersonal conflicts directly — often deflecting grievances toward HR rather than facilitating resolution at the unit level — created pockets of unresolved tension that periodically surfaced as reduced collaboration between day and night shift teams.”

PART B: SWOT Analysis

Step 5 — Master the SWOT Definitions Before Writing

The rubric explicitly states the accepted model:

The most common failure on this section: Listing an external factor as a strength or weakness. For example, “a growing elderly population in our service area” is an opportunity, not a strength — you don’t control it. “Our experienced clinical staff” is a strength — it is internal and within your control.

Step 6 — Write Two Strengths (Requirement B1)

Each strength must be:

• Internal to the organization
• Observable from your personal experience
• Evaluated, not just listed — explain why it is a strength and what evidence supports it

Example strength:

“A significant internal strength of the cardiac care unit is its low staff turnover rate. During my two-year tenure, fewer than three nurses left the unit voluntarily, compared to a hospital-wide average that included several units experiencing annual turnover exceeding 20%. This stability gives the unit a deeply experienced workforce that functions cohesively under pressure, reduces onboarding costs, and maintains consistent patient care standards — all of which represent a genuine competitive and operational advantage internal to this team.”

Step 7 — Write Two Weaknesses (Requirement B2)

Same structure as strengths, but analyzing internal limitations. Be specific and honest — a vague weakness like “communication could be improved” will not pass. Name the specific communication gap, how you observed it, and what its operational consequence is.

Example weakness:

“A notable internal weakness is the unit’s heavy reliance on paper-based documentation processes for a subset of care protocols that have not yet been migrated to the electronic health record system. During shift handoffs, nurses frequently cross-referenced physical binders and digital records simultaneously, increasing the likelihood of transcription errors and extending handoff duration. This dual-system workflow creates an internal inefficiency that places an unnecessary cognitive burden on staff and represents a vulnerability in care continuity that is entirely within the organization’s capacity to address.”

Step 8 — Write Two Opportunities (Requirement B3)

Opportunities are external — trends, market conditions, regulatory changes, demographic shifts, technological developments, or community needs that the organization has not yet fully leveraged.

Example opportunity:

“An unmet external opportunity exists in the growing availability of federal telehealth reimbursement programs following regulatory expansions in the post-pandemic period. The unit currently provides all follow-up cardiac consultations through in-person visits, despite a significant portion of the patient population living more than 45 minutes from the facility. Expanding into reimbursable telehealth for post-discharge follow-up appointments could reduce readmission rates, improve access for rural patients, and generate additional reimbursable encounters — an external opening the organization has not yet strategically pursued.”

Step 9 — Write Two Threats (Requirement B4)

Threats are external — forces outside the organization’s direct control that could harm its performance, viability, or mission.

Example threat:

“A persistent external threat is the regional nursing shortage, which has been intensifying across the southeastern United States for the past several years. Competing health systems in adjacent counties have begun offering sign-on bonuses and flexible scheduling packages that the organization currently does not match. While the unit’s internal culture has helped retain existing staff, the external labor market conditions represent a real risk to future recruitment capacity and could erode the very workforce stability that currently constitutes the unit’s most important internal strength.”

PART C: Leadership Evaluation Using a Scholarly Theory

Step 10 — Select Your Theory (Must Differ from Task 1)

Use the same strategic logic as Task 1 to pick the theory that best fits the leader you are evaluating. Here is a quick decision guide based on the leader’s observable behaviors from Part A:

Recommendation: Servant leadership and situational leadership are the two strongest second choices for most students who used transformational leadership in Task 1. Both have rich scholarly support and map easily onto healthcare and nonprofit settings.

Step 11 — Evaluate Three Strengths of the Current Leader (Requirement C1)

This section evaluates the leader from Part A, not yourself. The structure is identical to what you did in Task 1, but applied to an external person.

Structure for each strength:

1. Name the strength and describe observable evidence of it from your experience
2. Explicitly connect it to a dimension, principle, or component of your chosen theory
3. Cite a scholarly source that supports why this quality is valued within the theory

Example (Situational Leadership, Hersey & Blanchard):

“One of Ms. Rivera’s observable leadership strengths is her ability to calibrate the level of direction she provides to individual team members based on their demonstrated competency and confidence. New graduate nurses consistently received structured orientation check-ins with detailed procedural guidance, while seasoned nurses were given significant autonomy in managing their patient assignments. This behavior pattern aligns directly with the Situational Leadership model’s core principle that effective leaders match their leadership style to the developmental level of each follower (Hersey et al., 2013). Research confirms that leaders who demonstrate this adaptive flexibility generate higher follower satisfaction and role clarity than leaders who apply a uniform directive or delegating style across all team members (Thompson & Glasø, 2015).”

Step 12 — Evaluate Three Weaknesses of the Current Leader (Requirement C2)

Same structure. Be specific, anchor to the theory, and cite a source.

Critical reminder from the rubric note: The actionable items in C3 must address these weaknesses. So as you write your three weaknesses, think ahead to what practical improvements could realistically address each one. Writing weaknesses you have no actionable solution for creates a mismatch that evaluators will flag.

Example (Situational Leadership):

“A notable weakness in Ms. Rivera’s leadership is her tendency to default to a high-directive, low-support style during high-census periods, even with experienced staff who have demonstrated mastery of the relevant tasks. The Situational Leadership model identifies this as a style mismatch — applying a ‘telling’ style to individuals at a high developmental level undermines their autonomy and signals a lack of trust in their judgment (Blanchard et al., 2013). Several experienced nurses I spoke with informally expressed frustration during busy shifts that the manager’s increased directive presence felt micromanaging rather than supportive, which is precisely the follower response Hersey and Blanchard predicted for style mismatch conditions.”

Step 13 — Recommend Three Actionable Items (Requirement C3)

Each action must:

• Directly address one of the three weaknesses identified in C2
• Be specific and concrete, not vague advice
• Be explicitly connected to the leadership theory
• Be supported by at least one scholarly source

Example (addressing the style mismatch weakness above):

“To address the leadership style mismatch identified above, Ms. Rivera should implement a structured self-assessment practice in which she briefly evaluates each team member’s developmental level at the start of each shift and consciously selects a corresponding leadership approach from the Situational Leadership framework’s four styles. Blanchard and colleagues (2013) recommend that leaders use developmental conversations with followers to collaboratively identify which leadership style is currently most appropriate, rather than relying on intuitive judgment during high-stress conditions. Formalizing this self-check — even as a brief mental protocol before beginning shift rounding — would reduce reactive style mismatches and model the kind of intentional, follower-centered practice that the Situational Leadership model prescribes as essential to leadership effectiveness.”

PART D & E: Citations and Professional Communication

Step 14 — Citation and Sourcing Requirements

• Use APA 7th edition for all in-text citations and references
• You need at least one scholarly source for C1, at least one for C2, and at least one for C3
• In practice, use 4–6 unique peer-reviewed sources across Part C for a strong submission
• Every paraphrase, summary, or direct quote must be cited
• The same sources used in Task 1 may be reused if the theory allows it, but try to include 2–3 sources specific to the new theory you’ve chosen

Recommended sources by theory:

For Servant Leadership: Greenleaf (1977); Northouse (2021), Chapter 10; van Dierendonck (2011) in Journal of Management

For Situational Leadership: Hersey, Blanchard & Johnson (2013) Management of Organizational Behavior; Northouse (2021), Chapter 5; Thompson & Glasø (2015) in Leadership & Organization Development Journal

For Transactional Leadership: Bass & Riggio (2006); Burns (1978); Judge & Piccolo (2004) in Journal of Applied Psychology

For Participative Leadership: Vroom & Yetton (1973); Yukl (2013) Leadership in Organizations; Northouse (2021), Chapter 6

For Behavioral Leadership: Stogdill & Coons (1957); Blake & Mouton (1964); Northouse (2021), Chapter 4

For Trait Theory: Stogdill (1948/1974); Judge et al. (2002) in Journal of Applied Psychology; Northouse (2021), Chapter 2

Step 15 — Professional Communication (Requirement E)

• Write in a clear, formal academic register throughout — no slang, contractions, or casual phrasing
• Use third person when discussing the leader (e.g., “Ms. Rivera demonstrated…”), and first person when describing your own observations (e.g., “During my tenure, I observed…”)
• Each section should flow as connected prose paragraphs, not disconnected bullet lists
• Proofread for grammar, spelling, and APA formatting before submission
• Use clear section headers aligned to the rubric labels (A, A1, A2, B1–B4, C1–C3)

Complete Paper Structure at a Glance

APA Title Page

Introduction (1 paragraph — what organization, what leader, what theory)

A. Organization Description
   - Type, mission, scale, your personal experience, and objective(s)
   
   A1. Three Leadership Practices of the Current Leader
       - Practice 1: name + description + purpose/effect
       - Practice 2: name + description + purpose/effect
       - Practice 3: name + description + purpose/effect
   
   A2. Leader's Effect on Organizational Culture
       - What the culture is like + how the leader shaped it + evidence

B. SWOT Analysis
   B1. Strength 1 (internal) — description + evidence + why it's a strength
   B2. Strength 2 (internal)
   B3. Weakness 1 (internal) — description + evidence + consequence
   B4. Weakness 2 (internal)
   B5. Opportunity 1 (external) — what it is + why unmet + how it could be leveraged
   B6. Opportunity 2 (external)
   B7. Threat 1 (external) — what it is + why unresolved + potential impact
   B8. Threat 2 (external)

C. Leadership Evaluation of Current Leader Using [Theory]
   C1. Three Strengths of the Leader
       - Strength 1: observable evidence → theory component → citation
       - Strength 2
       - Strength 3
   C2. Three Weaknesses of the Leader
       - Weakness 1: observable evidence → theory component → consequence → citation
       - Weakness 2
       - Weakness 3
   C3. Three Actionable Items
       - Action 1: addresses Weakness X → how → theory link → citation
       - Action 2
       - Action 3

Conclusion (1 short paragraph)

References (APA 7 hanging indent)

Top Reasons Papers Fail DCM2 Task 2

1. SWOT internal/external rule violated — putting an external factor under strengths, or an internal factor under threats, is a guaranteed revision request
2. Leadership practices are actually traits — “She is compassionate” is not a leadership practice; “She conducts weekly empathy-centered patient safety rounds” is
3. Using the same theory as Task 1 — verify before you write
4. C3 actions don’t address C2 weaknesses — the rubric explicitly notes this; misaligned recommendations will be flagged
5. Organization description lacks firsthand voice — reads like a company profile instead of personal observation
6. Real names or identifying details included — anonymization is a rubric requirement; failure to anonymize can result in the task being returned without evaluation
7. Fewer than the required number of items — the rubric requires exactly two for each SWOT category and exactly three for each leadership evaluation section; one short means automatic revision

COMPREHENSIVE QUICK-REFERENCE TABLE