Access to justice in a timely, fairly and quality manner remains one of the cardinal obligations of a state towards its citizens and a vital ingredient for economic growth and development. The increasing demand for an efficient and effective judicial system in the last two
decades has forced many countries, especially developing ones, to embark on massive public sector reforms to improve their juridical performance. In Uganda, the judicial reforms have included, among others: salary enhancement, creation of new court circuits and magisterial courts, harmonisation of laws and recruitment of more judicial officers (Nassali, 2008). Despite the aforesaid continuous judicial reforms in Uganda, an effective Court system remains challenged by case backlog, delayed judgments, and perceived corruption, among other issues (Nassali, 2008; JLOS, 2016). The disparities in reform outcomes which has roots under the New public management theory have inspired researchers and policy makers to seek alternative approaches towards performance enhancement (De Waal, 2010), one of which is the High Performance Organisation (HPO) framework developed by De Waal (2007a). The research aimed at establishing the High Court HPO status in Uganda, and in addition, to determine whether there is a relationship between the score on HPO and its organisational culture and structure. The research adopted an explanatory design to meet the research objectives. Adopting a case research methodology established an intensive, descriptive, and holistic exploration of
the High Court HPO status and its relationship with culture and structure of the entity. The data required for meeting the research objectives was gathered via a cross-sectional survey, due to the nature of the problem and available time for conducting research. The research scope comprised of 11 Court Circuits out of twelve. The research sample comprised of 300 respondents, including Judges, Magistrates, Court support staff, and Court contract based staff. The HPO questionnaire developed by De Waal, (2012) was used to collect data on the HPO status, while an additional questionnaire was developed specifically to examine the
relationship among the key variables, namely organisational structure, culture, and HPO factors. Individual interviews were conducted on key informants, using an interview guide based on the preliminary HPO scores obtained after generating the results. The data sources and collection methods were triangulated to ensure validity and reliability of the research.
The gathered data was analysed using the HPO tool for the HPO status scores (De Waal, 2007a), while the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was employed for descriptive, reliability, inferential and regression analysis of the variables. The results present an HPO average status of the High Court at 6.4, which is low compared to the African average score of 6.7 and the world International standards of 8.5. The findings also indicate that employees at various levels of organisational hierarchy yielded different
HPO scores with the management category scoring the lowest. The results of HPO for the various staff categories could guide when developing mechanisms for enhancing the current High Court HPO status. The implication of the finding on the management team
HPO score is that those to take lead in actualising HPO require urgent multifaceted treatment in terms of learning, appreciating, spearheading and implementing HPO. The research findings further indicated a limited prediction of both organisational structure and culture towards HPO. The focus in the Uganda High Court has been on NPMT reforms focussing mainly on among others; organisational resources, organisational workflows, leadership, xxi individual staff, staff roles and strategic formation whose impact towards HPO is limited to make any meaningful impact towards efficient and effective service delivery. Thus the limited contribution of both organisational structure and culture provides a basis for the researcher to argue for HPO framework so as to enhance the High Court performance in a sustainable manner in Uganda. The research presented both practical and theoretical implications on the adoption of HPO framework in the High Court which will go a long way in enhancing efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery of the institution and the public sector at large. The research revealed that of the 35 characteristics under the HPO framework, only 18 are relevant to the High Court situation in Uganda. The research further identified that once the 18 characteristics were categorised under the five HPO factors, priority should be put on continuous improvement and openness, and action orientation as key HPO factors contrasting what De Waal (2011) had considered to be Management quality and Long-term commitment.
The three other HPO factors, namely; employee quality, management quality and long-term commitment are simply complementary. An effective juridical system is a potential driver for economic growth and development, which requires all efforts to achieve that notion (Fatile & Adejuwon, 2010; Nassali, 2008). The research outcomes will be utilised by policy makers, academicians and technocrats aiming to implement HPO in the High Court and the public sector in Uganda for efficient and effective juridical system, and overall service delivery. The overall contribution of the thesis is the establishment of the HPO status of the Uganda
High Court, which is low and the priority HPO factors; continuous improvement and openness, and action orientation (high level). The High Court should take stock of the value addition of the public sector reforms versus the outcomes and be decisive to adopt interventions that have the potential to enhance its HPO status rather than relying on what has worked or presumed to work elsewhere under NPMT. The High Court should consider establishment of an overall performance assessment mechanism for all staff irrespective of hierarchy to drive its overall performance and growth.