Overview
Court culture as a concept follows from the modern management maxim that there is more than one way to get things done and done well in the workplace. Formulating an effective strategy for a particular workplace requires a good understanding of not only the formal structure and lines of authority but also the unwritten rules, unofficial networks, and underlying norms and behaviors that shape how work is accomplished. As a result, knowledge of an organization’s cultural web is a crucial factor when searching for ways to improve operational effectiveness.
This entry outlines the development and current state of court managerial culture by reviewing five pertinent inquiries. All of the studies focus primarily on American felony criminal state trial courts and share a comparative approach, examining courts in several states. The first pair provides initial impetus by popularizing the concept of local legal culture as it relates to why case resolution in some courts is timelier...
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Ostrom, B.J., Hanson, R.A. (2014). Managerial Court Culture. In: Bruinsma, G., Weisburd, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5690-2_34
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