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The purpose of the paper is to present the results of the study of solutions implemented in Polish manufacturing companies to ensure their business continuity under COVID-19 pandemic conditions. A questionnaire survey was conducted using the mixed-model CAWI/CATI (Computer Assisted Web Interview/Computer Assisted Telephone Interview) on a representative group of 600 manufacturing companies in Poland. The research was conducted in March 2021, more than a year after the first lockdown. The study included cases of companies in most industries and companies of different sizes. The subject of the survey was to identify legal, technical, and organisational protection measures implemented in manufacturing enterprises in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in manufacturing companies in Poland. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced companies to look for solutions to work safely. Some of the identified work and production organisation solutions are innovative and can serve as models of good practice for other companies. They can also be the basis for learning lessons and preparing for future critical incidents. It is a great economic and social importance to ensure the continuity of the activities of manufacturing enterprises during the pandemic.

Teoria niezawodności to ważna inspiracja nauk społecznych w zarządzaniu ryzykiem operacyjnym oraz publicznym zarządzaniu kryzysowym. Artykuł podaje nowe podejście do publicznego zarządzania kryzysowego, zastosowane w krajowych metodykach: oceny ryzyka w ochronie infrastruktury krytycznej państwa oraz planowania cywilnego i ratownictwa. Technical reliability as an inspiration for operational risk management and public crisis management The theory of reliability is an important inspiration of social science in operational risk management and public crisis management. The article provides a new approach to public crisis management, used in national methodologies: risk assessment in the protection of critical infrastructure of the state as well as civil and rescue planning.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a proposal for the methodology of developing rescue plans and the concepts of applying recommended response schedules in the context of the State Fire Service’s planning responsibilities (preparation) and public administration (reconciliation and approval), according to the legal order in force in Poland. In the proposed concept, recommended schedules are built on the basis of the matches and successes identified according to the criteria, i.e. the best carried out rescue actions from the register of reports. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on the analysis of existing legal status and policy in Poland as well as the selected relevant academic literature. Findings The result is the formulation of a methodology for drawing up the rescue plans to the extent required by law and proposing a concept for the method of developing and applying recommended response schedules, supporting operational planning and conducting rescue operations. Practical implications The proposed methodology is to support the procedure of drawing up rescue plans by implying and implementing them into IT solutions. The suggested recommended response schedules, based on observations and conclusions from the analysis of the past rescue operations, may present circumstances and sequences of the use of forces and measures that have had beneficial effects in the past. An in-depth analysis of historical data from the conducted rescue operations may also be used to determine time indicators for the response phase. Originality/value The proposed solutions complement the methods currently used by public administration in Poland. The concept can also be inspiring for the State Fire Service (PSP) which has its own analytical tools in the form of a decision support system and registers of rescue operations carried out. The PSP may undertake the practical verification of the presented methodology for preparing rescue plans and recommended response schedules.

Niniejszy artykuł przedstawia metodyczne podejście do budowy repozytorium dobrych praktyk na przykładzie studium przypadku dla obszaru publicznego zarządzaniu kryzysowego. Wyniki uzyskane w ramach prowadzonego projektu rozwojowego umożliwiły określenie kluczowych wymiarów klasyfikacji dobrych praktyk zgromadzonych w repozytorium, określenie sposobu opisu (metryki) każdej dobrej praktyki zakwalifikowanej do repozytorium z punktu widzenia procesu planowania cywilnego, zarządzania kryzysowego oraz zarządzania ryzykiem, jak również budowania dojrzałości organizacji. Opisane w artykule podejście jest uniwersalne - może być wykorzystane do budowy repozytorium dobrych praktyk dla innych obszarów zarządzania. Koncepcja struktury repozytorium jest przygotowana do zaimplementowania w środowisku cyfrowym.

The study aimed to identify and analyze measures used in manufacturing enterprises to protect workers from COVID-19 infection and maintain business continuity. Measures were identified based on literature studies, recommendations presented in the guidelines of international and national organizations, information from manufacturing companies, and the study authors’ expertise. Measures were classified into five groups. A survey was conducted using a mixed model Computer Assisted Web Interview/Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CAWI/CATI) on a representative group of 600 manufacturing companies in Poland. Measures were analyzed according to the occurrence or non-occurrence of COVID-19 in the enterprise. It was confirmed that the vast majority of identified measures were being applied, and enterprises implemented other solutions developed in-house. Legal and regulatory measures, individual protective measures, and protective measures for groups of workers were mainly applied at similar levels, both in the occurrence or non-occurrence of COVID-19. The implementation measures of work organization and production organization are mostly higher in enterprises without COVID-19. The proposed approach can be the basis for developing a methodology for studies of crisis events of a similar nature. The results can be used to select and implement a set of measures for an individual enterprise.

The first chapter serves as an introduction to the monographic study, it therefore begins with a review of the notion of “process” as such, as well as of various existing process classifications. The subsequent sections present the conceptual scope of the terms BPO—Business Process Orientation and BPM—Business Process Management, attention is also drawn to management concepts and methods developed on the foundation of the process approach. Differences between business process management and process management are highlighted along with the main success factors and limitations pertinent to the implementation of process management in production companies and administration institutions, respectively. Attention is drawn to process lifecycle management which constitutes the basis for the approach presented in the study.

We begin our considerations by establishing the life cycle of the process, which we will use as the structural basis in the next chapters of the monograph. The process lifecycle is very helpful and important for the understanding of how process activities relate one to one another and how they contribute to the effectiveness of the process as a whole. It is also the methodical guarantee for continuous optimization and redesign of organizational processes. In this sense, process lifecycle is the space for the consideration of many functional perspectives in an organization, e.g. technical, customer-related, environmental, legal, or economic. However, in order for a lifecycle to fulfill the above functions, the content and arrangement of its phases must correspond to the needs and variability of the organization. Therefore, an overview of typical structures is presented in Sect. 2.1 together with indication of their typical uses. In Sect. 2.2, based on the results of this overview, a new lifecycle is proposed to serve as the foundation for the remaining part of this monographic study.

Maturity models are a method of measuring progress made by organizations in terms of continuous improvement processes, they also serve as a specific driving mechanism facilitating that improvement. The chapter presents the general characteristics of maturity models in an attempt to systematize the same and juxtapose their features to reveal similarities between maturity models developed in different fields of management and for different types of organizations. To this end, 20 distinct maturity models are analyzed and compared. Two sample models are also described in the context of production companies and administrative institutions to serve as examples of models prevalent and popular in Europe: EFQM Excellence Model—used in production companies and Common Assessment Framework CAF—in public administration. Furthermore, two models developed in the course of our own studies are also presented: Productivity Management Model PMM—dedicated to production companies, and Risk Management in Public Crisis Management RMPCM—developed with lower-tier local self-government units in mind. The chapter’s summary reiterates the numerous similarities observed between models used in both analyzed types of organizations and the value thereof in terms of stimulating sustainable organizational development.

Artykuł jest swoistym podsumowaniem projektu "Wysokospecjalistyczna platforma wspomagająca planowanie cywilne i ratownictwo w administracji publicznej", sfinansowanego przez NCBR w ramach konkursu 7/2015 (beneficjentem jest Państwowa Straż Pożarna), zrealizowanego przez konsorcjum: Wydział Zarządzania Politechniki Warszawskiej oraz Medcore sp. z o.o. (Kosieradzka i in., 2018). Był on kontynuacją projektu "Metodyka oceny ryzyka na potrzeby systemu zarządzania kryzysowego RP", sfinansowanego przez NCBR w ramach konkursu 3/2012 (beneficjentem było Rządowe Centrum Bezpieczeństwa), a opracowana w tym projekcie krajowa metodyka stała się częścią Unijnego Mechanizmu Ochrony Ludności. W obu projektach zastosowano metodę poszukiwania analogii pomiędzy podejściem metodycznym stosowanym dotąd w zarządzaniu i ocenie ryzyka operacyjnego w odniesieniu do działalności podmiotów biznesowych.

W 1896 roku Karol Adamiecki wprowadził do praktyki zarządzania wykresy organizacji pracy, które nazwał harmonogramami. Powyższe rozwiązanie dało początek rozwojowi metod ukierunkowanych na racjonalizację organizowania procesów wytwarzania. W opracowaniu zostały omówione następujące grupy metod organizowania procesów pracy w czasie: metody harmonogramowania produkcji, teoria kolejek i reguły priorytetu, metody planowania projektów: diagramy sieciowe i metoda łańcucha krytycznego, karty kanban oraz inne warianty systemu pull, a także teoria ograniczeń oraz jej narzędzia: werbel-bufor-lina. W podsumowaniu zwrócono uwaga na nieustającą potrzebę koordynowania procesów w czasie, krótki "żywot" harmonogramu jako wzorcowego planu ze względu na ogólną i specjalną losowość procesów, przejście z podejścia push na pull oraz współcześnie stosowane metody bieżącego koordynowania procesów w czasie.

Celem artykułu była prezentacja wyników badań procesów transformacji organizacji informatycznych. Autorzy założyli, że badania te będą miały znaczenie dla organizacji pod warunkiem opracowania mierników pozwalających na analizę efektywności i skuteczności tych procesów. Dlatego tez na wstępie artykuły omówiono złożoność procesu transformacji, aby następnie przedstawić propozycje miar oceny efektywności i skuteczności dla tak złożonych procesów. Zaprezentowano model procesów zwinnej transformacji, określając adekwatne zmienne, aby następnie zweryfikować model, stosując mierniki dla procesu transformacji. Okazało się, że po procesie transformacji zmieniają się zarówno grupy mierników, jak i same mierniki w ramach wyodrębnionych grup. Dlatego też przeprowadzony i opisany w artykule proces weryfikacji miał charakter jakościowy. Pozwolił na ocenę poprawności dobranych zmiennych modelu transformacji. Przeprowadzone badania pozwoliły na ocenę przydatności zmiennych opracowanego modelu oraz zróżnicowanych (przed i po procesie) miar do oceny organizacji i badania skuteczności i efektywności procesu zwinnej transformacji. Nie pozwoliły natomiast na ilościowa ocenę procesów i mierników zwinnej transformacji.

The article deals with a way of standardizing project and program management methods in public administration, considering that they have been initiated by a number of administration units having a great autonomy, independently of the government strategy. To manage the government strategy, an original model of the unification process of managing projects and programs executed as part of the strategy and supported by a dedicated IT system has been specially developed and implemented. The essence of the presented approach is to replace the top-down forcing changes toward unifying the project management methodologies used by government administration units by stimulating interest in facilitation and benefits provided by the IT system and, as a result, also a willingness to join the system. Such voluntary joining the system is associated with voluntary adaptation of the previous locally applied management method to the methodology supported by the IT system.

Members of the plant metal tolerance protein (MTP) family have been classified into three major groups - Zn-CDF, Mn-CDF and Zn/Fe-CDF - however, the selectivity of most of the MTPs has not been confirmed yet. Cucumber gene CsMTP9 encoding a putative CDF transporter homologous to members of the Mn-CDF cluster is expressed exclusively in roots. The relative abundance of CsMTP9 transcript and protein in roots is significantly increased under Mn excess and Cd. Immunolocalization with specific antibodies revealed that CsMTP9 is a plasma membrane transporter that localizes to the inner PM domain of root endodermal cells. The plasma membrane localization of CsMTP9 was confirmed by the expression of the fusion proteins of GFP (green fluorescent protein) and CsMTP9 in yeast and protoplasts prepared from Arabidopsis cells. In yeast, CsMTP9 transports Mn(2+) and Cd(2+) via a proton-antiport mechanism with an apparent Km values of approximately 10 μm and 2.5 μm for Mn(2+) and Cd(2+) , respectively. In addition, CsMTP9 expression in yeast rescues the Mn- and Cd-hypersensitive phenotypes through the enhanced efflux of Mn(2+) and Cd(2+) from yeast cells. Similarly, the overexpression of CsMTP9 in A. thaliana confers increased resistance of plants to Mn excess and Cd but not to other heavy metals and leads to the enhanced translocation of manganese and cadmium from roots to shoots. These findings indicate that CsMTP9 is a plasma membrane H(+) -coupled Mn(2+) and Cd(2+) antiporter involved in the efflux of manganese and cadmium from cucumber root cells by the transport of both metals from endodermis into vascular cylinder.

P1B-ATPases (heavy metal ATPases, HMAs) constitute a multigenic subfamily of P-ATPases involved in the transport of monovalent and divalent heavy metals in plant cells. Here, we present the organization of genes encoding the HMA family in the cucumber genome and report the function and biochemical properties of two cucumber proteins homologous to the HMA2-4-like plant HMAs. Eight genes encoding putative P1B -ATPases were identified in the cucumber genome. Among them, CsHMA3 was predominantly expressed in roots and up-regulated by Pb, Zn and Cd excess, whereas the CsHMA4 transcript was most abundant in roots and flowers of cucumber plants, and elevated under Pb and Zn excess. Expression of CsHMA3 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae enhanced yeast tolerance to Cd and Pb, whereas CsHMA4 conferred increased resistance of yeast cells to Cd and Zn. Immunostaining with specific antibodies raised against cucumber proteins revealed tonoplast localization of CsHMA3 and plasma membrane localization of CsHMA4 in cucumber root cells. Kinetic studies of CsHMA3 and CsHMA4 in yeast membranes indicated differing heavy metal cation affinities of these two proteins. Altogether, the results suggest an important role of CsHMA3 and CsHMA4 in Cd and Pb detoxification and Zn homeostasis in cucumber cells.

The Development of Production Management ConceptsThe aim of this paper is the analysis of contemporary concepts used in production management in relation to the paradigms which accompanied their appearance and development. The first chapter contains a definition of the term 'paradigm', discusses the importance of the paradigms for the development of a scientific approach to management and lists examples of paradigms relevant to production management. In the second chapter such management concepts as LM, Kaizen, TOC, TQM, TPM, Six Sigma and BPR are presented, along with their respective old and new paradigms, main goals, fundamental rules and tools (methods and techniques). Some less popular concepts are also dealt with. The last chapter is devoted to an analysis of interactions between the analyzed concepts, with an emphasis on their mutual compatibility and complementarity, which can be of benefit in the process of their implementation.

Members of the plant metal tolerance protein (MTP) family have been classified into three major groups - Zn-CDF, Mn-CDF and Zn/Fe-CDF - however, the selectivity of most of the MTPs has not been confirmed yet. Cucumber gene CsMTP9 encoding a putative CDF transporter homologous to members of the Mn-CDF cluster is expressed exclusively in roots. The relative abundance of CsMTP9 transcript and protein in roots is significantly increased under Mn excess and Cd. Immunolocalization with specific antibodies revealed that CsMTP9 is a plasma membrane transporter that localizes to the inner PM domain of root endodermal cells. The plasma membrane localization of CsMTP9 was confirmed by the expression of the fusion proteins of GFP (green fluorescent protein) and CsMTP9 in yeast and protoplasts prepared from Arabidopsis cells. In yeast, CsMTP9 transports Mn(2+) and Cd(2+) via a proton-antiport mechanism with an apparent Km values of approximately 10 μm and 2.5 μm for Mn(2+) and Cd(2+) , respectively. In addition, CsMTP9 expression in yeast rescues the Mn- and Cd-hypersensitive phenotypes through the enhanced efflux of Mn(2+) and Cd(2+) from yeast cells. Similarly, the overexpression of CsMTP9 in A. thaliana confers increased resistance of plants to Mn excess and Cd but not to other heavy metals and leads to the enhanced translocation of manganese and cadmium from roots to shoots. These findings indicate that CsMTP9 is a plasma membrane H(+) -coupled Mn(2+) and Cd(2+) antiporter involved in the efflux of manganese and cadmium from cucumber root cells by the transport of both metals from endodermis into vascular cylinder.

Metal-tolerance proteins (MTPs) are divalent cation transporters that have been shown to be essential for metal homeostasis and tolerance in model plants and hyperaccumulators. Due to the lack of genomic resources, studies on MTPs in cultivated crops are lacking. Here, we present the first functional characterization of genes encoding cucumber proteins homologous to MTP1 and MTP4 transporters. CsMTP1 expression was ubiquitous in cucumber plants, whereas CsMTP4 mRNA was less abundant and was not detected in the generative parts of the flowers. When expressed in yeast, CsMTP1 and CsMTP4 were able to complement the hypersensitivity of mutant strains to Zn and Cd through the increased sequestration of metals within vacuoles using the transmembrane electrochemical gradient. Both proteins formed oligomers at the vacuolar membranes of yeast and cucumber cells and localized in Arabidopsis protoplasts, consistent with their function in vacuolar Zn and Cd sequestration. Changes in the abundance of CsMTP1 and CsMTP4 transcripts and proteins in response to elevated Zn and Cd, or to Zn deprivation, suggested metal-induced transcriptional, translational, and post-translational modifications of protein activities. The differences in the organ expression and affinity of both proteins to Zn and Cd suggested that CsMTP1 and CsMTP4 may not be functionally redundant in cucumber cells.

P1B-ATPases (heavy metal ATPases, HMAs) constitute a multigenic subfamily of P-ATPases involved in the transport of monovalent and divalent heavy metals in plant cells. Here, we present the organization of genes encoding the HMA family in the cucumber genome and report the function and biochemical properties of two cucumber proteins homologous to the HMA2-4-like plant HMAs. Eight genes encoding putative P1B -ATPases were identified in the cucumber genome. Among them, CsHMA3 was predominantly expressed in roots and up-regulated by Pb, Zn and Cd excess, whereas the CsHMA4 transcript was most abundant in roots and flowers of cucumber plants, and elevated under Pb and Zn excess. Expression of CsHMA3 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae enhanced yeast tolerance to Cd and Pb, whereas CsHMA4 conferred increased resistance of yeast cells to Cd and Zn. Immunostaining with specific antibodies raised against cucumber proteins revealed tonoplast localization of CsHMA3 and plasma membrane localization of CsHMA4 in cucumber root cells. Kinetic studies of CsHMA3 and CsHMA4 in yeast membranes indicated differing heavy metal cation affinities of these two proteins. Altogether, the results suggest an important role of CsHMA3 and CsHMA4 in Cd and Pb detoxification and Zn homeostasis in cucumber cells.

The paper describes: elements of a continuous improvement system in an enterprise, teamwork as an approach towards solving problems at workstations (especially problems concerning ergonomic issues) and methods and techniques used in ergonomic standards improvement at the stages of problem identification as well as search and implementation of the solutions. Requirements and conditions for efficient implementation are substantiated for improvements such as: training system, motivational system, system of applying and evaluation of applications, financial support of the implementation process and 5S program as a starting point for ergonomic improvements. Theoretical considerations will be illustrated with examples of improvements implemented in Polish enterprises.