Industrial sociologists for many years have been limited almost entirely to studies of Western factories. For the Communist world they have been compelled to advance hypotheses based upon the assumption that political ideology determines the character of management-labor relations. Now for the first time, Mr. Kolaja's pioneering examination of worker participation in the management of a textile factory in Lodz, Poland, provides specific evidence for testing these theories. For eight weeks in the summer of 1957, while the liberal atmosphere of the "Polish October Revolution" of 1956 still prevailed, Mr. Kolaja observed the behavior of two work groups in the weaving department of the Lodz factory, supplementing these data by interviews and questionnaires. The workers he found for the most part eager to talk-particularly to complain-perhaps finding in this American citizen who spoke Polish with a Czechoslovak accent an outlet for repressed feelings. In general, Mr. Kolaja found, the weavers were almost untouched by the Communist ideology. The Lodz workers, like their counterparts in the West, worked for the pay envelope, blamed poor output upon technological and managerial deficiencies beyond their control, and sought to relieve the monotony of mass production by activities outside the factory. They responded little to efforts to involve them in the problems of the plant, and they considered the management people to be in a different, and opposed, class. Unwilling to abandon the doctrine that management-labor conflict does not exist in a Communist society, the Polish government had tried over the years to motivate the workers' participation in operational decisions. The latest of these attempts, coming shortly after the October political change, was the workers' council. This body, superimposed upon the existing management, labor union, and party structures in the Lodz factory, served both to stimulate some interest among a few workers and to complicate the task of the plant director, a forceful man, who had to promote the participation of workers whom he knew were unmoved by the principle of collective ownership. This he did, Mr. Kolaja observed, by reporting decisions to the workers' council as accomplished facts and asking its delegates to communicate them to their fellow laborers. The workers faced no such dilemma. They tended to accept the workers' council as yet another management organization, particularly after it had agreed to delay sharing the plant's profit. Yet one of them-denoted here as I -5 and surely the "hero" of the book-took his election to the workers' council more seriously and several times at its meetings embarrassed subordinate managers with his forthright statements. He was unable to fluster the plant director, however, who relied upon I-5's regard for his responsibilities to place him in the position of having to justify the profit sharing decision to his fellow weavers. The direction seemed clear by the time of Mr. Kolaja's departure: I-5 had been invited to join the party (no workers in the two groups studied were members), and he was about to be "coopted" by management.

Polishes typically contain a lot of abrasives, rinsing agents and organic solvents. Protectants typically contain neither abrasives nor rinsing agents, less organic solvents than the two other product types and a lot of protectant. Polishes are used to maintain a glossy finish on surfaces as well as to prolong the useful lives of these surfaces. Polishes can be described in terms of their physical form, carrier system, ability to clean, and durability. Physical forms of polishes include pastes, pre-softened pastes (non-flowing emulsions), liquids, and gels. Polishes beautify and protect by coating or refinishing surfaces. Waxes are used as finishes and coatings for wood products. Waxes are also used in shoe polishes, wood polishes, and automotive polishes, as mold release agents in mold making. Furniture polish value sales are expected to reach US$ 13,101.3 mn by 2027, expanding at a CAGR of 5.0%. Shoe polish protects the shoes from moisture, water, and becoming hard. It provides the shoes with a waxy coating and a shine. Shoe polish market is concentrated in the urban areas. The global shoe polish market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 2.75% over the forecast period of 2019-2025. The global metal polish products market has been registering rapid growth, owing to the use of different metal alloys in machinery, furniture and other metal products due to their cheaper cost and high efficiency. Globally, the metal polish market has been witnessing significant growth, owing to the rise in the demand for cleaning and polishing products. The book contains formulations and manufacturing process of auto polish and wax products, furniture polish, marine polish, metal polish and shoe polish, their marketing strategies, BIS specification, directory section, plant layouts and photographs of machinery with supplier’s contact details. A total guide to manufacturing and entrepreneurial success in one of today's most wax and polish industry. This book is one-stop guide to one of the fastest growing sectors of the wax and polish industry, where opportunities abound for manufacturers, retailers, and entrepreneurs. This is the only complete handbook on the commercial production of wax and polish products. It serves up a feast of how-to information, from concept to purchasing equipment

Chronicles the experiences of immigrants in two iconic South Side Polish neighborhoods in Chicago to demonstrate how Poles created new communities in an attempt to preserve the customs of their homeland.

Poland in the 1980s was filled with shuttered restaurants and shops that bore such imaginative names as “bread,” “shoes,” and “milk products,” from which lines could stretch for days on the mere rumor there was something worth buying. But you’d be hard-pressed to recognize the same squares—buzzing with bars and cafés—today. In the years since the collapse of communism, Poland’s GDP has almost tripled, making it the eighth-largest economy in the European Union, with a wealth of well-educated and highly skilled workers and a buoyant private sector that competes in international markets. Many consider it one of the only European countries to have truly weathered the financial crisis. As the Warsaw bureau chief for the Financial Times, Jan Cienski spent more than a decade talking with the people who did something that had never been done before: recreating a market economy out of a socialist one. Poland had always lagged behind wealthier Western Europe, but in the 1980s the gap had grown to its widest in centuries. But the corrupt Polish version of communism also created the conditions for its eventual revitalization, bringing forth a remarkably resilient and entrepreneurial people prepared to brave red tape and limited access to capital. In the 1990s, more than a million Polish people opened their own businesses, selling everything from bicycles to leather jackets, Japanese VCRs, and romance novels. The most business-savvy turned those primitive operations into complex corporations that now have global reach. Well researched and accessibly and entertainingly written, Start-Up Poland tells the story of the opening bell in the East, painting lively portraits of the men and women who built successful businesses there, what their lives were like, and what they did to catapult their ideas to incredible success. At a time when Poland’s new right-wing government plays on past grievances and forms part of the populist and nationalist revolution sweeping the Western world, Cienski’s book also serves as a reminder that the past century has been the most successful in Poland’s history.

This study examines how the shared cultural values of employees in a Polish firm influenced management attempts to transform organizational practices in a newly privatized factory. By introducing a foreign management approach, Total Quality Management (TQM), the management of this factory presents a potential conflict of values between the employees and the management philosophy. Tracing the historical and contemporary impact of traditional, political and religious influences in Poland and utilizing ethnographic techniques of observation, interviews, and secondary source data, the author identifies four patterns of shared mindsets. These mindsets, insecurity and instability, distrust, reluctance to assume responsibility and a struggle between individualism and collectivism generate resistance to the successful implementation of TQM in this factory.Organizational studies research has identified cultural differences in values but previous studies have not examined the congruence assessment that employees make when confronted with a management intervention, such as TQM. The author finds that an incongruence between societal values and the values the employees perceive are embedded in the TQM approach produced actual outcomes that are not consistent with TQM objectives of empowerment, teamwork, visionary leadership and continuous improvement of quality. Employees demonstrated a reduced sense of empowerment, team goals that are counterproductive to organizational goals, autocratic leadership and an increased focus but not sustainable effort toward improving quality.The book examines the reasons for these results through detailed description and extensive quotations from employees bothinside the Polish firm and throughout Polish society.

First Published in 2000. This is a research study that includes deep description, supported by research in organizational studies as well as Polish history, sociology and anthropology, of the perceptions of employees in a single Polish factory. This factory is experiencing the uncertainties and opportunities of tremendous change in external contingencies and internal operations. The employees in this factory are trying to adjust to a new owner and many new managers, the fear of lay-offs and confusion about the world in which they now find themselves.