Background. Many publications have studied environmental management sys­tems. Once a system is implemented and maintained, it should affect employee environmental awareness – the question is to what extent it does so. To date, published studies have defined awareness and highlighted its importance. The author, as a practitioner, was interested in whether the positive opinion about the system expressed in the system documentation (audit reports) was relevant for the development of environmental awareness of managers and employees.

Research aims. Therefore, the purpose of this article was to establish the relationship between the state of the environmental management system and the environmental awareness of users. It was recommended to introduce surveys to raise awareness and improve the system.

Methodology. Literature review and surveys were used to collect the data.

Findings. The surveys showed that the vast majority of employees want their organization to be safe for the environment. But in practice, many employees do not know the environmental objectives or environmental improvement plans. This means that the system is not optimally maintained. Decision-makers rely on the reports from environmental audits and reviews to learn about the need to improve environmental awareness. In addition to analyzing the documentation, surveys are needed in an organization to understand the employees’ feedback.

JEL Codes: J23, O15, R11

Background. Volunteer fire brigades are primarily active at the local level; they are an organizational form of a self-organizing community; they build and benefit from social capital and pursue many social objectives. The local community – the main audience of their activities – often clusters around them. The activities of volunteer fire brigades result from legal obligations, but also from the values shared by the firefighting community.

Research aims. The research objective was to identify values shaping the organizational communities of firefighters and activities determined by such values. The values adhered to by volunteer fire brigade members as well as their activities for the benefit of local communities were identified, including those dedicated to sustaining the volunteer fire brigades’ existence.

Methodology. The strategy for organizing data acquisition and presentation was a collective case study. The research methods that served the purpose of the research included individual interviews, group interviews, participant observations, and analysis of existing documents.

Findings. The values that shape firefighting communities comprise a sense of public service, trust, friendship, kindness, loyalty, solidarity, respect and cooperation. By treating their commitment as service, firefighters fulfil the need of a sense of community, which they extend beyond organizational boundaries by dedicating their actions to local communities.

JEL Codes: L31

Background. For many years, the Polish style of managing universities was based on the Humboldtian model of higher education and the assumption of academic self-government that decides in a collegial manner. Simultaneously, Ustawa 2.0 (The Law on Higher Education and Science of 20 July 2018) significantly changed the way of managing universities. The state authorities noticed that the hermetic academic environment must become open toward the socioeconomic sphere, cooperate with it, and enable universities to professionalize their management.

Research aims. This article seeks to learn the criteria of appointing members to university councils in Poland from the perspective of Ustawa 2.0 and those people who were directly or indirectly engaged in choosing the councils’ members. In the light of this goal, I had to capture the solutions introduced by Ustawa 2.0 from the perspective of changes that occurred in the university management in Poland.

Methodology. I used a mixed methodology to conduct this study. To that end, I analyzed the contents of Ustawa 2.0 and particularly focused on articles about appointing members to the councils. Additionally, I analyzed twenty statutes of Polish universities singled out by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in the first edition of the competition “Excellence Initiative – Research University.” Moreover, I interviewed seven people in university management positions who were engaged in appointing members to university councils (among others, a rector and a vice-rector).

Findings. Although university councils operate in many countries, they are a novelty in the structures of the higher education institution (HEI) management system in Poland. The role and competencies of the councils are broad, and they practically influence how Polish universities operate. The conducted research showed that the appointment of members to the university councils follows the universal rules specified in the Ustawa 2.0 and, partially, in the statutes of universities. The law indicates that university council members should be persons respected in the academic environment, who know the mission and values of a given university.

JEL Codes: H75, I23, I28

Background. Currently, the university management requires undertaking the execution of new activities. In response to the challenges of the contemporary processes of the management – building a third generation university – universities are adapting the concepts of management, which up to now have been first and foremost availed of in the sector of enterprises. Such a solution is the concept of a learning organisation.

Research aims. The aim of the research conducted was to verify the using of the concepts of a learning organisation during the building of the third generation university

Methodology. In the research methodology, a systematic literary review was applied, as well as a case study of the Jagiellonian University. The choice of this university was made on the basis of a subjective evaluation of the process of evolution of the university from the second generation to the third generation. The adoption of such research methodology shall facilitate the building of propositions of good practices of the university management for other universities in the future.

Findings. The research conducted reveals that the university has been using a learning organisation to build a third generation university.

JEL Codes: M41, M48, I2