THE AUTHOR INITIALLY ASSUMES THAT THE CONVENTIONAL WISDOM OF CENTRALIZED MANAGEMENT OF STATE COURT SYSTEMS IS OUT OF DATE BOTH IN FACT AND THEORY. AN ALTERNATIVE VOCABULARY AND WAY OF THINKING ABOUT REORGANIZATION AND DAILY MANAGEMENT IS PRESENTED. THE ALTERNATIVE MODEL IS BASED ON A LOOSELY CONNECTED SET OF PROPOSITIONS CALLED HERE CONTINGENCY THEORY. FOUR MULTIDIMENSIONAL FOCI OF CONTINGENCY THEORY (ENVIRONMENT, TECHNOLOGY, HUMAN RESOURCES, AND TIMING) ARE REVIEWED. THE FIRST, ENVIRONMENTAL INTERDEPENDENCIES, DIRECTS ATTENTION TO THE NEED FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF STATE COURT ENVIRONMENTS. THE KEY ISSUE BECOMES THE NATURE OF AN ORGANIZATION'S INTERDEPENDENCIES IN TERMS OF WORKFLOW CRITICAL RESOURCES, AND DOMAINS FOR ACTION. A SECOND SOURCE OF CONTINGENCY FOR COURT ORGANIZATIONS IS THEIR TECHNOLOGY. TECHNOLOGY IS A MULTIDIMENSIONAL CONCEPT: DIFFERING COURT TECHNOLOGIES DO NOT DEMAND UNIFORM AND/OR CENTRALIZED ARRANGEMENTS. A THIRD FOCUS OF CONTINGENCY THEORY IS HUMAN RESOURCES. HERE THE CONCERN IS THE WORKER AS A VARIABLE CONSTRAINT ON ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS. THE LITERATURE IN THIS AREA IS DIVERSE, BUT EACH OF THE COMPETING SCHOOLS CONTAINS A COMMON ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE CONTEXTUAL NEED TO STRUCTURE ORGANIZATIONS WITH A CLEAR RECOGNITION OF THE COMPLEX INTERACTIONS OF PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS. SIMILARLY, LEADERSHIP APPEARS TO BE A VARIABLE QUALITY-EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP IS A FUNCTION OF BOTH A PARTICULAR LEADER AND A PARTICULAR LEADERSHIP ENVIRONMENT. FINALLY, THE ELEMENT OF TIMING ACCENTS THE NEED FOR A MORE DYNAMIC MODEL OF THE ORGANIZATION OF STATE COURT SYSTEMS. THE CONVENTIONAL WISDOM IN JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION SEEMS TO ASSUME THE LASTING IMPORTANCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL PRINCIPLES WHICH ACTUALLY ARE QUITE LIMITED. THE IMPLICATIONS OF THIS THEORY FOR EVALUATING TRIAL COURT PERFORMANCE ARE EXAMINED IN THE FINAL SECTION OF THIS ESSAY. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED)