Applying Organization and Management Theory to the Selection of Lower Court Personnel

Abstract

While the management of court systems at the state level is a topic of emerging contemporary interest, management at the local level has been substantially neglected. In particular, only nominal attention has been paid to the process by which those vested with actual management authority are selected: chief judges, trial court administrators, and court clerks. The present undertaking represents an initial attempt to fill the void.

After reviewing the classical and human relations approaches on how to manage organizations, the authors juxtapose these models on the selection of lower court managerial personnel. Numerous inadequacies are discovered. The authors conclude that each model, taken alone, is insufficient to guide the selection process. Therefore they distill the strengths of the two approaches and construct eclectic alternatives for selecting each group of personnel.

The plans generated contemplate both a degree of centralization and a degree of decentralization in the selection process. The authors envision substantive assistance and guidance by state-level officials, including members of the supreme court and the state court administrator. Simultaneously they advance the importance of colleague and subordinate participation in the process. For example, they suggest that both chief judges and trial court administrators be chosen locally, but with the supervision and approval of the supreme court.

The authors also treat the sensitive and highly emotional topic of how court clerks should be selected. Acknowledging a trend toward appointment of these officials, they opt for an electoral plan in the face of political reality. They do, however, admonish that stringent qualifications be established for those seeking the office.

Although the three alternatives are somewhat unorthodox relative to those adopted by business and industry, they are designed to maximize the quality of managerial personnel within existing constraints of the judicial system.