Spring 2027

Communication in Complex Organizations

Examines problem solving in complex organizations by studying communication pitfalls, decision-making biases, and blind spots. Learns to innovate in teams and make high-quality decisions.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Lyn Van Swol4.1/5

Summary

1 / 3

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 3.64 GPA, 66.7% A/AB (n=18 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.28 GPA, 64.0% A/AB (n=25 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.30 GPA, 63.6% A/AB (n=22 letter grades).

What you’ll be able to do

  • Explain the different theories of decision-making and what type of decision-making process is more appropriate depending on the situation

  • Nudge others and self to make better decisions

  • Design your decisions and solve your problems using a better process based on empirical social science

  • Design your teams and groups to maximize performance based on principles from social science

  • Apply strategies to increase open communication and strategically use conflict in organizations to increase productivity and decision quality

  • Create environments that nudge ethical decisions in organizations and create a healthy, ethical organizational culture

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Junior standing

  • Junior standing
COMARTS 575

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Junior standing

Professors

Spring 2027

Lyn Van Swol

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.28/5 from 68 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 3.64 GPA, 66.7% A/AB (n=18 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.28 GPA, 64.0% A/AB (n=25 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.30 GPA, 63.6% A/AB (n=22 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

LYN VAN SWOL is recorded teaching in Fall 2007, Fall 2008, Fall 2009, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Online Only0 / 650

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 3.64 GPA, 66.7% A/AB (n=18 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.28 GPA, 64.0% A/AB (n=25 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.30 GPA, 63.6% A/AB (n=22 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

  • Communication pitfalls, decision-making biases, and problem-solving blind spots
  • Theories of decision-making and situational appropriateness
  • Ethical decision-making and organizational culture

Skills

  • Designing decision processes based on empirical social science
  • Designing teams and groups to maximize performance
  • Applying strategies for open communication and strategic conflict use

Grades

Latest available · Fall 2025— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Fall 2025

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
COMARTS 575 · Spring 2027

Communication in Complex Organizations

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:250:003884",
    "course_id": "COMARTS 575",
    "course_uid": "course_e6c560e32a27a8cac83c6ae4",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "003884",
    "source_subject_id": "250",
    "title": "Communication in Complex Organizations",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Summer"
  }
]
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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "074f9664f45249e375c54c7d603256c26c00f1db416a017938b861f8158b50fc",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}