Running head: COURT ADMINISTRATION 1

Court Administration

Name

Institution
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Court Administration

Introduction

The new changes in the administration of the courts definitely was to come with its fair

share of challenges. With the courts primarily managing themselves in the past, the new system

was likely to be faced with resistance. Some of the early signs of the resistance are already

visible with the courts refusing to collaborate with each other as the new system dictates. Other

challenges that my office will have to deal with include the enormous backlog of cases that

require expedition, the numerous cases cited of mismanagement, the serious breakdown in

communication and the employees that show no motivation to undertake the task before the

courts. Therefore, as the new administrator tasked with the overseeing of the new system in the

courts, I am fully prepared for the daunting tasking at hand.

What should be addressed first and how should it be addressed?

The serious breakdown in communication between the various departments present the

first real hurdle at resolving current crisis in the courts. There is no way to go about it but that my

office calls a meeting with all the employees in a bid to finding a lasting solution for the benefit

of every and more so the members of the public who rely greatly on the court system. The

agenda at the top of the meeting will dwell by and large on how to facilitate inter-court

participation and members will be given a chance to air out their grievances and potential

solutions may be reached. The meeting will also seek to resolve the standstill with the County

Human Resource Office concerning recruitment, address the way forward on the huge backlog of

cases, the demotivation within the court and lastly the meeting will address and find solutions to

the high turnover rate that has everyone bothered.

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The proposals and potential solution from the meeting will then require that a further

meeting be convened and each of the departments will send a representative in an attempt to find

a consensus on the way forward. It is my hope that further solutions may be suggested and

agreed upon by the representatives of the various departments for the benefit of everyone

involved.

Responding to the low employee morale and the issue with the high turnover rate

The problem of the low employee morale requires that a thorough audit of the

remuneration system and the privileges accorded to the employees. Thereafter, the remuneration

and privileges system will be based on individual abilities and the value they add to the courts in

an overall meritocracy kind of system. The demotivation exhibited by the employees may be due

to a number of issues ranging from the discontent with the management, troublesome fellow

employees or perhaps the regulations and rules developed by the new human resource office.

(Wamsley).

Considerable efforts should also be made towards boosting the morale of the employees.

It is without doubt that the employees could really use a few techniques geared towards boosting

their morale such as improving the environment around the office, team bonding activities,

setting reasonable and realizable objectives, better modes of communication between the

employees and generally improved conditions in the office.

Whereas change is generally recognized to be inevitable, it could prove to be

overwhelming to the even the most established of organizations such as the courts. A high

employee turnover is generally considered a serious cause for concern for any employer and as
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such the employer should address it swiftly as soon as even a whiff of it is caught. With that in

mind, it therefore becomes essential that to understand the reasons for the employees who choose

to leave and address the causes of them quitting. Some of the common reasons for employees

quitting jobs includes the prospects of higher pays at other firms, the desire to be more useful

than they currently are, the prospects of earning a promotion or progressing to a higher rank and

the perks that come with such ranks or even the dissatisfaction with the overall system of

management and the hierarchy of management (MacLean).

Employee turnover rate is measured by assessing the number of members of staff who

left the job in a given period of time against the number of members of staff who quit during the

same duration. This period is usually between fourth month to even a year. The hiring process is

the first port of call if the turnover rate is too high. There needs to be a proper system set in place

to manage and adequately manage the employee application process. The system should collect

and assess through the application of persons seeking employment in that firm. Once I actually

have a gaggle of applicants who meet the criteria of employment, following step is to get

additional information that may be relevant in addition to the information in forms of application

or learned in a very commonplace interview. These assessments give a clear view every job

seeker compares to the highest performers presently acting the duty (Orrick, 2008).

Boosting Communications in the Workplace

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Communications or correspondences must be enhanced in order to make sure that there

are no tensions between the workmates Every organization must adequately have an effective

communication mechanism or system to improve the relations between individual workmates as

well as between the employees and employers (Berger, 2008). The primary solution lies in what

improves the work environment and this requires proper management of the work environment

as well as the employees. The administration must therefore work towards fostering open

communication. The measures should include what should be done to foster the open

communication as well as individuals responsible for overseeing the entire process. The process

should also ensure take care of the concerns of everyone. Additionally, there should be clear

rules and regulations on the general mechanism with which the open communication should be

enhanced with a clear framework on improving communications within the organization.

Ways of Enhancing Harmony in the Place of Work

A harmonious environment is one where all employees are accorded humane treatment

and a mechanism developed to protect against unjust treatment and a redress mechanism to

address issues of workers having been treated in an unjust manner. Generally, employees should

be subjected to the same treatment regardless their idiosyncrasies. There should be no

discrimination of any sort whatsoever (Mitterer, 2014). My efforts will be dedicated by and large

to discourage any sort of mistreatment or any sort of discrimination based on social, economic or

even political stands. A higher level of tolerance must be at the core of enhancing the harmonious

coexistence of the employees. Additionally, I will make attempts at ensuring that no one group of

communities dominate the employment chances.

Backlog of Cases
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The huge backlog of cases witnessed in courts is an impediment to the process of

delivery of justice and access to justice. The existence of a huge backlog of cases serves to

discourage people from seeking recourse from the court system and more often than not, has left

the courts red faced. The solution to reducing the huge backlog of cases therefore depends by and

large on the willingness of every party to the case to facilitate the expedition of the court process.

This process therefore involves the court officials as well as the parties to the cases themselves

(Tahura, 2015).

Firstly, it goes without saying that the court registries and officials have borne the brunt

of the blame for the huge backlog of cases witnessed in the courts. This is down to the fact that

they have really never exercised due diligence in conducting an appropriate analysis of the cases

as they are brought before the courts. Cases abound of files that were not properly labelled or

files that mysteriously disappeared and as such cannot be found (Tahura, 2015). In order to solve

this problem then, a proper court management system should be put in place. This court

management system should then be tasked with the duty of ensuring that all files are well

labelled and distinguished from each other based on the type of cases. Additionally, the officials

at the registry must identify the average ages of cases and make sure that the cases that come

before any judge are the oldest or those whose limitation period as dictated by the Statute of

Limitations are very close (Tahura, 2015).

Additionally, this requires the court officials to keep proper statistics of all the cases

brought before the courts and develop a system that will ensure that certain targets are set and

met after a certain period. The plans will thereafter be assessed after six or twelve months to

identify what plan will have worked to reduce the cases and what will have not worked and

adjustments made accordingly (Tahura, 2015).

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References

Berger, B. (2008, November 17). Employee / Organizational Communications. Retrieved from

http://www.instituteforpr.org/employee-organizational-communications/
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MacLean, P. J. Taming Turnover: Creating Strategies for Employee Retention. Silver Creek

Press.

Mitterer, H. E. (2014, March 31). Building a Culturally Harmonious Work Environment.

Retrieved from https://sites.psu.edu/leadership/2014/03/31/building-a-culturally-

harmonious-work-environment/

Orrick, D. W. (2008). Recruitment, Retention, and Turnover of Police Personnel: Reliable,

Practical, and Effective Solutions. Charles C Thomas Publisher.

Peck, D. W. (n.d.). Court Organization and Procedures to Meet the Needs of Modern Society.

Indiana Law Journal .

Tahura, U. (2015). Case Management System to reduce Case Backlog. Retrieved from

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275886306_Case_Management_System_to_red

uce_Case_Backlog

Wamsley, G. L. Coping with Catastrophe: Building An Emergency Management System to Meet

People's Needs in Natural and Manmade Disasters ; a Report. DIANE Publishing.