Hubert Witczak The human resource management subsystem among social systems
The aim of this paper is the cognitive definition and placement of the human resource management domain within social systems, with a particular focus on the enterprise. Approaches taken to date are not sufficiently systematic. This creates a peculiar "jungle of theories" where contributions and fashions reign supreme. The basis for defining the human resource management subsystem is the determination of a key value-the staff's capacity to realize the objectives of the enterprise as well as fundamental processes shaping that capacity. It is around these values and processes that other activities and processes, factors (objects), institutions, and social structures develop. Together, they account for the human resource management subsystem in its broader (classical) and narrower (specialized) sense. This provides the teleological and material foundations for furthering human resource studies.

Beata Skowron-Mielnik Work efficiency: An attempt at ordering the concept
The aim of this article is to present terminological concerns connected with work efficiency as well as to attempt to define and classify the issue. It is intended to serve as a clarification in the discussion on the practical aspects of work efficiency, including work outcome measurement and high work efficiency systems. Three issues are of prime importance in discussions on work efficiency: What are work outcomes and inputs? How can work efficiency be defined and evaluated? What factors influence the level of work efficiency? Another important question is how to include the social aspects of work efficiency and their consequences on assessing it.

Kazimierz Dobrzański The essence, circumstances, and areas of volunteer work
This article discusses the process of national economic transformation, pointing out its positive and negative aspects. It goes on to examine the specifics of non-profit organizations and the essence of volunteer work. What is stressed is that modern day volunteer work is a form of shaping and stimulating a readiness to act while simultaneously being an expression of public action. In pointing out the circumstances of the development of volunteer work, it is looked at as a tool for mollifying and limiting the negative effects of transformation as well as the ancillary phenomena that impede economic, social, and civilizational development. It is for this reason that the concept of volunteer work should involve continuity of action.

Maciej Brzozowski The evolution of the role of personnel manager in the company
This paper describes changes in perceiving the importance of personnel services in the company against a backdrop of contemporary trends in human resource management. It stresses the fact that personnel specialists must fill not just a single role, but multiple ones: strategic partner, administrative expert, creator of involvement, and change agent. Moreover, the impact of the virtualization process of work on the scope of the described roles is presented.

Grzegorz Wojtkowiak Human resources and company bankruptcy
This article tackles the problem of human resource management in company bankruptcy-a poorly researched area. Examining case studies, it indicates that employees may prove an important company resource that, even in cases of bankruptcy, may determine possibilities for company survival thanks to restructuring or sale as an organized organism.

Agnieszka Ignaś Knowledge management in an information technology company: A case study
This article concentrates on the presentation of selected solutions in the area of knowledge management as applied in companies specializing in providing information technology outsourcing services.

COMMUNIQUES
Anna Piekarczyk An assessment of the quality of human resource management in companies with German capital in Greater Poland
The aim of this article is to present the results of research aimed at providing an assessment of the quality of human resource management conducted on companies with German capital in Greater Poland. The companies were subjected to an evaluation based on the nine areas of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model. Among the most poorly rated aspects of the functioning of the examined companies is the area of human resource management. The study looked at the role and place of workers in the organization as a significant component of company potential as well as the subjective perception of the company by its employees.

Marcin Gołembski Solutions in the area of work time as a tool for motivating workers
This article is about flexible working time as a tool forming the motivation system of a modern company. The main aim of the text is to open a discussion on how different methods of creating flexible working time affect employee motivation. It indicates just how essential time issues have become to human resource management practice. In this day and age of rapidly growing competition, managers must look at other ways to keep pace with market rivals and to meet employee expectations.

József Poór, Zsuzsa Karoliny, Daniel Kehl, Ferenc Farkas Changes in Employment Management and Human Resource Practice: An Analysis of 2007 Survey Data Based on the Life Cycle Model
Life cycle (or stage) models were developed to study organizational growth. The primary objective of applying such models is to determine the relevant outcomes (e.g. management, HR, etc.) for the different stages of organizational growth on the basis of contributing factors. Our research, conducted in 2007, sought to discover how companies (subsidiaries of multinational companies as well as indigenous Hungarian small-, medium-, and large-sized enterprises) have adapted to the accelerating changes in the economy over recent years, and what kinds of change might be expected in the employment and personnel management practices of these organizations at specific stages of the life cycle models. This paper presents the theoretical background and empirical findings of this research.

Lee S., McCann D., and Messenger J. C., Working Time around the Word: Trends in Working Hours, Laws and Policies in a Global Comparative Perspective [Czas pracy na świecie. Trendy w zakresie czasu pracy, prawa i polityki w globalnej perspektywie porównawczej] - Beata Skowron-Mielnik
Alicja Sajkiewicz (Editor), Kompetencje menedżerów w organizacji uczącej się [Manager competencies in a learning organization] - Janusz Strużyna
Bogusława Urbaniak (Editor.), Zarządzanie Zasobami Ludzkimi. Problemy dydaktyki [Human resource management: Educational problems] - Hanna Karaszewska

CHRONICLE, INFORMATION
Results of the "HR Man of the Year" Competition - The Editorial Staff
International Staff Congress - 8th edition of the Staff Congress - Dorota Anna Milke
Results of the 10th edition of the competition for the best Master's and Doctoral theses in the field of labor and social policy - Bożena Kołaczek
Annual Session of the Program Council and Editorial College of HRM - The Editorial Staff

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