Organizational Culture and Knowledge Management in the Polish Judiciary

Abstract

Knowledge management is a concept that developed rapidly about 10 years ago. The literature on the subject emphasises the important role that organisational culture plays in it. Culture and knowledge management are strongly connected, as demonstrated by the literature studies in this article. The purpose of the article is to present organisational culture research using the example of Polish courts, and it details the results of the first area of research: employee satisfaction levels. A benchmarking method was used for the study. More than 1,250 questionnaires were received from 28 units. This allowed the author to favourably assess the research tool used because it enabled interesting conclusions to be drawn about the entities researched, with respondents deciding to take action leading to changes in their organisational culture. It was thus possible to use quantitative research to transition to qualitative research. The top management of courts in certain regions appointed court employees responsible for implementing solutions to improve organisational culture in a given court. Another effect of this research is mutual learning: the courts that participated in the study and achieved results that were significantly below average are trying to start discussions with courts that achieved results that were well above average. The research presented in this article thus seems to be an interesting tool for influencing organisational culture.