human resources management national association for court management human resource management:...

Human Resources ManagementHuman Resources Management

National Association for Court Management

Human Resource Management:Fundamentals and Foundations

for Court Leaders

National Association For Court Management



• Courts are labor-intensive organizations. – Human resources and leadership enable

the court to use its fiscal, technological, and physical resources to achieve its purpose.

– The court’s human capital (its leadership and human resources) is the driver with which a court becomes a high achieving court, satisfying its own and the public’s objectives.

Why is Human Resources Management Critical?



Why is Human Resources Management Critical?

• Courts need good people who are competent, up to date, professional, ethical, and committed. This is, among other things, what Human Resources Management helps court executive teams deliver.

• Recruitment, selection, employee relations, job analysis, job evaluation and position classification, compensation, and performance management, all demonstrate what the court believes in, its values, and its standards. Human Resources Management can enhance the contribution of every judge and court employee.



What is Human Resources Management?

• All of those activities in which the Court engages as an employer to ensure that it has the kinds and numbers of people it needs to effectively, efficiently, and consistently accomplish its mission.



Challenges in Court Human Resources Management

• Judicial independence should drive it, despite:– Funding arrangements– The small size of most courts– Complexity of HR issues



Paradigm Shifts Impacting the Judicial Branch

1. Shrinking half-life of useful information

2. Ordinary people empowered by the WWWeb

3. The empowerment of women and minorities

4. An aging population

5. Shift to a service and knowledge-based economy

6. Decentralized management and performance planning



Shrinking Half-Life of Useful Information

• Judicial branch implications – Courts need employees who are quick

learners, constant learners, and tolerant of ambiguity and job change

– The court must become a constant learning organization with a pervasive commitment to human resource development



Ordinary People Empowered by the Web

• Judicial branch implications – A more informed citizenry demands more service

and is possibly more litigious

– Information-age citizens demand “virtual” transactions

– Court personnel have to be technologically sophisticated

– Employees have the desktop tools to be analytical and inquisitive



The Empowerment of Women and Racial Minorities

• Some time in the next decade, “minorities” become the majority

• Judicial branch implications –– Courts have to continuously search for and

weed out discriminatory practices– The appearance of fairness requires Courts to

employ workers from a widening array of racial and ethnic groups



An Aging Population

• Judicial branch implications –– Elder issues (e.g. health care access/cost,

crime, right-to-die) occupy more court time– The need to attract, retain and retrain the

older worker will intensify



Shift to Service Economy

• Requires workers with high levels of analytical skill, creativity and self-directedness

• The domestic availability of qualified workers is in short supply

• The cycle time for products/services is short and job/career changes frequent

• Judicial branch implications –– Qualified employees cost more and are portable,

hence increased training and replacement costs



Decentralized Management and Performance Planning

• Forced to reduce costs, organizations flatten their hierarchies

• Decision making is pushed down

• Promotional opportunities are reduced



Decentralized Management and Performance Planning

• Judicial branch implications –– A wider array of competencies are required of line

employees– Courts must find ways to motivate through job

enrichment and learning opportunities– Skilled leadership/administration becomes more

critical



The Changing Human Resources Management Environment

• Decreasing revenues, more financial pressures, increased scrutiny

• The quality movement, customer/public service

• Teams, strategic planning, re-engineering

• The changing “psychological employment contract”



The Changing Human Resources Management Environment

• The erosion of “career” employment and the growth of the “contingent” workforce

• Employee retention

• The erosion of employment-at-will

• The increase in legal issues in human resources management



The Changing Labor Force

• An aging workforce, but don’t forget about “Generation X”

• More women

• More “minorities”

• More individuals with disabilities



The Human Resources Competencies

The HR competencies provide the tools with which a court’s human capital works synergistically with fiscal and technological capital to accomplish the court’s mission. They are:

– Vision and Purpose– Human Resources Fundamentals– Context and Fairness– Management and Supervision



Vision and Purpose

• Courts are special organizations, charged with ensuring a just society. The vision and purpose of the courts reflects this highest order public service in which courts have responsibility.

• Human resources and management activities must be intricately linked to the court’s vision and purpose, as well as to its strategies for vision accomplishment.



Vision and Purpose

• Developing mission/strategic vision/values and aligning the vision and values with HR practices– The court’s mission and vision are hollow

documents without every activity of the court being in alignment with that vision.

– For example, if our vision talks about responsive and courteous service to the public, do our selection, training, and performance management programs support vision attainment?



Vision and Purpose

• Judicial independence– Courts tend to be small organizations relative to

the executive branch.

– Because of economies of scale and specialized expertise, it is often advantageous for courts to utilize the services and policies of local funding units.

– However, judicial independence requires that this be done consciously and strategically so that the interests of the judicial branch are protected.



Vision and Purpose

• Ethical standards and legal compliance– Human resources protective legislation has grown

dramatically in recent decades.– Not only are courts not exempt from these statutes,

courts must be examples of legal compliance.– Additionally, the Judicial Canons to which judicial

officers and court staff must abide mandate the high ethical standards that courts require, and are necessary if court stakeholders are to believe in just procedures and outcomes.



HR Fundamentals• Human resources is a specialized field that includes

staffing, compensation, performance management, and discipline.

• There are roles required not only of HR specialists, but also of all court managers, if the court is to accomplish its purpose.

• Fundamentally, line managers are the key to successful human resources management in courts, as in other organizations.



HR FundamentalsKnowledge/Skills/Abilities re:

• HR planning, job analysis and job descriptions – the core of effective Human Resources– HR PLANNING

Where is the court going? What retirements are on the horizon? Are there new mandates to which we must respond?




• HR planning, job analysis and job descriptions – the core of effective Human Resources– JOB ANALYSIS

Task/duties performed? Required competencies? Work environment?

– JOB DESCRIPTIONS The written summary of the job analysis




• Staffing – recruitment, labor market analysis, selection, orientation– Perhaps no activity is more important to court

success than hiring and orienting great employees.

– The cost to hire is often 1.5 to 2.0 times the position’s starting salary.




• Staffing – recruitment, labor market analysis, selection, orientation– HR professionals are critical in establishing fair,

job related and administratively efficient processes.

– Court managers must adapt and apply these processes to the varied positions within the court.




• Classification and compensation– This is a particularly technical area of human

resources. Processes that ensure internal equity and external competitiveness are the province of HR specialists.

– Court managers must apply these systems to ensure that skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions are given proper consideration.




• Classification and compensation– Managers must also remain attune to the

changing duties of employees that may require reclassification and/or compensation adjustments.




• Performance management and appraisal --with or without a formal system, it is a fundamental responsibility of managers to ensure:– that employees know what is expected of them,

– that they receive feedback about their performance, and

– that corrective actions are taken if performance does not meet standards.




• Corrective actions and discipline– Expectations for employee behavior, consistent

with the values of the courts and Canons that apply, form the basis of the courts discipline and corrective action system.

– HR specialists may establish the policies.

– Court managers must monitor behavior, investigate and take corrective actions where warranted.




• HR and the law -- Especially important to managers are:– Anti-discrimination legislation, e.g. Title VII of the

Civil Rights Act, Americans with Disabilities Act and Age Discrimination in Employment Act,

– Protective legislation, e.g. Family and Medical Leave Act, Workers’ Compensation, whistleblower statutes,




• HR and the law -- Especially important to managers are:– Compensation related laws, e.g. Fair Labor

Standards Act, and

– Common law issues, e.g. privacy, defamation



Context and Fairness

• While managers of all organizations should be cognizant of the context in which decisions are made and the fairness of those decisions. courts must be a model for the rest of society with respect to fairness, due process, and equity.




Knowledge/Skills/Abilities re:

• Organizational and governmental structure– While courts are constitutionally an independent

branch of government, accomplishing the vision and purpose of the courts requires interdependent activities with other branches and agencies.

– A knowledge of the roles of those other organizations and skills in collaboratively working with them is essential.





• Workforce and community diversity– Most states have assessed the state of gender

and racial equity in the judicial arena and have proposed strategies for improvement.

– It is incumbent on courts to practice job related, fair, and consistent processes that ensure a court workforce that reflects the diversity of community.





• Due process, fairness, equity and consistency– Employees expect procedural fairness.

– Studies show that even if dissatisfied with the outcome of HR decisions, if employees feel that the processes were fair, they are much more likely to support the decision.





• Employee complaints and grievances– It is cost effective and supportive of a positive

employee relations climate to have internal complaint and/or grievance procedures Identify and resolve problems early Handle issues internally, informally, and

inexpensively





• Employee complaints and grievances– Systems for timely resolution of complaints are

the province of HR specialists.

– Managers must use these well.





• Unionized organizations– Some jurisdictions allow court employees to form

and join unions.

– Local laws with respect to labor relations are the guide.





• Unionized organizations– Managers must understand that:

Unions are political organizations. The collective bargaining agreement becomes the

law of the workplace.





• Unionized organizations– Managers must understand that:

The agreement is a restrictive document, not a permissive one. This means that the agreement provides rights for the union that it did not otherwise have. The employer does not gain rights or permissions from the collective bargaining agreement.



Management and Supervision

• In addition to technical human resources activities, competent court managers must be adept at management and employee supervision.

• They must work with and through court staff to accomplish the vision and purpose of the court and unit.





• Planning, organizing, delegating, monitoring work– The sequential management functions begin with

planning, the setting of court and unit objectives and the means to reaching them

– Objectives should be SMART, I.e Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time Limited





• Planning, organizing, delegating, monitoring work– Organizing is dividing u the work and assigning it

to people, including delegation.

– Monitoring is a part of the controlling function that closes the loop between planning and implementation. A plan without monitoring is a hope





• Teambuilding – Eight components of successful teams

1. Goals

2. Talent

3. Roles

4. Procedures

5. Team-oriented Training

6. Interpersonal Relations





• Teambuilding – Eight components of successful teams

7. Reinforcement

8. External Relations





• Oral and written communication– Studies show that supervisors spend 55-90% of

their time communicating with others

– Selecting the appropriate medium is critical.

– Listening is a skill that requires constant attention

– Feedback is the key to overcoming communications breakdowns and barriers





• Mentoring– The lifeblood of the court is the accumulated

insight of the people who choose to give their gifts of talent and commitment.

– Mentoring, i.e. pairing experienced employees with those less experienced, may be the best way to ensure that the intellectual legacy of court staff continues.





• Coaching/counseling– The less formal discussions with staff are

necessary tools for managers and can prevent the need for formal disciplinary actions.





• Employee Motivation• Everyone is motivated, all of the time...

• ...By needs (internal drives) that they are attempting to satisfy.

• To be highly motivated, to extend the effort needed to keep a job or perform well, people must be able to meet some of the needs that are important to them on or through their jobs.





• Employee Motivation• Expectancy theory provides a good summary:

An employee will increase his/her effort, if he/she believes that increased effort will lead to improved job performance, and

He/she believes that desirable rewards will result from the improved job performance.




1. Vision

2. Leadership

3. Involvement

4. Support

5. Flexibility in implementation

6. Institutionalize the change – policies, systems, structures

7. Evaluation and adjustment

What Leaders Must do to Manage Change

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