Abstract

Over the last three decades, networks - as a field of research - have acquired a significant place among management sciences. Unfortunately, in the judiciary they have become a subject of more careful analyses only recently, which resulted in a large discrepancy of knowledge - both in theory and in its practical adaptation for the needs of the courts. In order to fill this cognitive gap, an attempt was made to identify levels of organizational maturity of common courts in applying a network form of coordination to auxiliary activity. The basis material for the research was provided in 72 interviews with presidents and court heads, and observations of a non-standardized process of information exchange and knowledge sharing within the voluntary court network established during the implementation of the project hosted by the National School of Judiciary and Prosecutor's Office (Krajowa Szkoła Sądownictwa i Prokuratury) "Education in time management and court proceedings costs - case management" ("Edukacja w dziedzinie zarządzania czasem i kosztami postępowań sądowych - case management"). 60 regional, district and appeal courts from different appeals cooperated horizontally within the scope of this network. During the project, organizational and management solutions were implemented, such as: improvement of case flow management and efficiency of proceedings, development of effective information policy of courts and management of internal and external communication. As part of the exchange of information and knowledge sharing, the courts used the network form of coordination. The procedure proposed in this article designates five levels of organizational maturity of courts in the implementation of the network form of coordination. The developed procedure can be used to track the progress in the common courts' networking and to inspire the courts to use this form of coordination in practice.

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