Organizational Communication and Problem Solving
This course focuses on improving problem solving and communication within complex organizations through case studies and cross-disciplinary sources.
Summary
Past student reviews · Lyn Van Swol
One student described it as the most coursework they had ever had for a 1.0 credit, noting its heavy reading and writing demands.
What you’ll be able to do
Summarize the biases that affect decision making
Influence others 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 and innovation 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 and situations that nudge ethical decisions in organization
Identify blind spots that lead to unethical decisions
Source: UW Guide
Grade history
↗All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors
Prerequisites
Course mapGraduate/professional standing or declared in Capstone Certificate in Foundations of Professional Development
- Graduate/professional standing
- declared in Capstone Certificate in Foundations of Professional Development
This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.
Prerequisite text tree
- Any of
- Graduate/professional standing
- declared in Capstone Certificate in Foundations of Professional Development
Professors
Spring 2027No instructors recorded for this selection.
Historical instructors & teaching patterns
LYN VAN SWOL is recorded teaching in Spring 2017, Spring 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024. 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 2027Schedule loads here as you scroll.
| Section | Mode | Enrolled / capacity | Waitlist |
|---|
Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.
Meeting source records
No records available.
Student experience
the class
Past student reviews · Lyn Van Swol
This 8-week course was extremely reading and writing-intensive, though it offered significant learning opportunities for those skilled in those areas.
Recent recorded grades — Fall 2022: 3.70 GPA, 90.9% A/AB (n=22 letter grades); Fall 2023: 3.66 GPA, 92.0% A/AB (n=25 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.88 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=8 letter grades).
difficulty & workload
Past student reviews · Lyn Van Swol
One student described it as the most coursework they had ever had for a 1.0 credit, noting its heavy reading and writing demands.
Past student reviews · Lyn Van Swol
A reviewer noted that if you are a good writer and fast reader, you will learn a ton from the material.
Topics
- Problem solving in complex organizations
- Case study analysis
- Improving communication
- Decision-making biases
- Team design and performance
- Ethical decision making environments
Skills
- Summarizing decision-making biases
- Influencing others for better decisions
- Designing decision processes based on empirical social science
- Designing high-performance teams and groups
- Applying communication and conflict strategies for productivity
- Creating environments that nudge ethical decisions
- Identifying blind spots leading to unethical decisions
Grades
Latest available · Fall 2024— not enough history to project Spring 2027.
Grade distribution · % of letter grades
Grades over time
Through Fall 2024
More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data
Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.
Sources & history
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.
Selected offering source records
No offering records for the selected term.
Raw records
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Student reviews
Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.
Read original reviews
Grade history
Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.
Explore recorded gradesRecorded 2026-10-14
Model outputs & technical records
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces
Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.
Model & dataset provenance
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"model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
"task_version": "17",
"output_id": "87af9ac243bd5d4f66ef8cff7f67a2092eb0932517915ce48c0e03450fad1871",
"requirements_status": "valid",
"dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
"observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}