You have just been appointed as the new court administrator for a medium-sized court system with approximately 75 employees and 5 full-time courts. This is a new position for the courts. In the past, each individual court has primarily managed itself, except for the employee hiring process, which was completed through the County Human Resource Division. Upon taking your post, you quickly find out that none of the courts seem to be willing to cooperate with each other-or, for that matter, any of the other various county offices, such as the County Clerk's Office and the District Attorney's Office. Rumors and gossip about mismanagement abound, and the communications process between the five courts appears to be at a standstill. The courts currently have a huge backlog of cases awaiting trial, and in addition, employee morale is low and the turnover rate is high.

In your groups, discuss how you would respond to this organizational problem and the following points:

• Which problem should be addressed first, and exactly how should it be addressed?
• How would you respond to the employee morale problem?
• How would you respond to the turnover problem?
• What techniques could be employed to improve communications throughout the organization and create a more harmonious work environment?
• What method or tactic would you use to reduce the backlog of cases awaiting trial?