Statutes

Article 1: Name and seat
An association with a scientific and pedagogical objective has been established under the Belgian law of 25 October 1919 modified by the law of 6 December 1954 and 30 June 2000 called The European Group for Organizational Studies in abbreviation “EGOS”. The legal seat is in Brussels, Belgium, Rue d’Egmont-straat 13, 1000 Brussels. It can be moved to other addresses in Belgium if decided by the Association’s Board, such decision being published in the Belgian State Gazette.

Article 2: Purpose
The purpose of EGOS, which is non-profit earning, is to provide a Europe-based society for persons of all nationalities professionally concerned with or interested in organizational theory and research. More specifically, EGOS has the purpose to

• provide an international network in the field of organizational theory and research
• provide a forum for research presentations and discussions
• provide a platform for starting up and running autonomous working groups
• provide publication outlets for high quality research
• support young researchers in the field of organization studies
• foster a broad variety of approaches and research issues in organizational studies and encourage debate across traditional academic disciplines and boundaries in organizational analysis as well as across cultures
• facilitate the interaction of its members
• generate new thinking in the teaching of organizational theory and research including comparative international practices

Article 3: Membership
Section 1: The Association is set up by the undersigned.

Section 2: For the purposes of registration the number of members of the Association shall be unlimited. There are regular and honorary members. Any individual professionally concerned with or interested in organizational theory and research is eligible for regular membership of EGOS.

Applications for regular membership should be made to the Association in writing and in such form and containing information as the Board may from time to time prescribe; such applications shall be approved by the Board. Honorary members are appointed by the General Assembly, they have all rights of regular members.

Section 3: A member of the Association shall cease to be a member:

a. If such member resigns three months after notice is given to the Board writing.

b. Automatically when membership fees remain outstanding in the six months following their due date and after two requests for payment unless the Board considers there to be extenuating circumstances.

c. If s/he otherwise ceases to qualify for membership. Any member can be excluded by the Coordinating Committee and by two thirds of the votes. The member is to be given an opportunity to present his/her arguments of defense before a final decision is taken. The exclusion is subject to the ratification by the General Assembly.

A member has no call on the common funds in case of the termination of membership.

Article 4: Association’s Journal
Organization Studies is the journal of the Association. It contains a regular EGOS section for news and notes. The intellectual property of Organization Studies is held by EGOS, which reserves all rights pertaining thereunto.

Article 5: General Assembly
Section 1: A General Assembly of the members of EGOS will be convened by the Board annually. Special meetings of members may be called by the Board when deemed necessary by the needs of EGOS. In both cases, adequate notice of at least 30 days shall be given by the Committee setting the agenda. The Board shall call special meetings when so requested by at least 20 percent of the Association’s members.

Section 2: The General Assembly is the supreme authority of the Association. It is competent in the following matters:

• The general policy of the Association
• Amendment of the statutes
• The nomination and dismissal of the members of the Board
• The approval of the annual report of the Board (in particular, the balance sheet and the accounts)
• The voluntary dissolution of the Association
• The nomination of the finance auditors
• The approval of changes in membership fees
• The appointment of honorary members
• The ratification of membership exclusion decisions taken by the Board

Section 3: The General Assembly is composed of all EGOS-members. It shall be chaired by the Chairperson or in his/her absence by another member of the Board. No business shall be decided at any General Assembly unless a quorum of 25 members is present or one tenth of the membership whichever is the lesser. The resolutions shall be decided by a simple majority of votes cast. Unless the General Assembly so decides, voting shall be by show of hands.

Section 4: If the prescribed number of members present is not attained, the following General Assembly will settle the question regardless of the number of members present.

Section 5: The minutes of the meeting of the General Assembly shall be certified by the person who drafted them and by the chairperson of the Assembly. They are to be sent to all members in due time. The minutes are kept at the legal seat of the Association and are at the disposal of the members.

Article 6: Board

Section 1: EGOS shall be managed by a Board that shall consist of seven members. If the number of candidates exceeds the number of vacant seats, the members shall be elected by the EGOS members by on-line secret ballot via the EGOS web in December the year before seats on the board become vacant. The ballots will be decided on the basis of the highest number of votes. 

Section 2: No more than two members of the Board should come from the same country. Only members of the Association may be nominated for election. All nominations shall be sent to the Board no later than November 1 the year before seats become vacant. All nominations shall have the written consent of the person nominated.

Section 3: The Board elects the Chairperson and a Vice-Chair.

Section 4: The Board is assisted by two ex officio observers:

The Editor in Chief of Organization Studies

The Executive Secretary/Treasurer, who is in charge of keeping the records and accounts of the Association and who is appointed and dismissed by the Board.

Section 5: The Terms of appointment shall be of three years:

If any of the members fails to complete his/her term of appointment then his/her successor appointed by the Board shall serve the remaining period of the term set out above. Board members are eligible for reelection.

Section 6: The Board shall meet as and when it is deemed necessary but no less than once a year at a meeting convened by the Chairperson. It has legal tenure only if one third of its members are present. Decisions are made by simple majority of members present. Decisions shall be written in a special register.

Section 7: The Association shall be governed by the Board. It directs the action of the Association and has all powers to manage it. It can in particular accept any bequests, subsidies, donations or transfers, give away any rights and confer any powers to agents of its choice.

The Board can delegate the day-to-day management of the Association to one of its members or to a third party, except when special mandates have been confined. When contracting with third parties the signatures of at least two members of the Board are both necessary and sufficient, third parties being authorized to rely fully on such double signatures.

Actions in court, whether as defendant or plaintiff, are pursued by the Board represented by the Chairperson or another member of the Board designated by the Chairperson.

Article 7: Board Chairperson
The Chairperson shall be the chief spokesperson for EGOS. S/he chairs the Board, and is presiding officer at all meetings of the General Assembly and of the Board. S/he shall appoint committees as necessary for the activities of EGOS during his/her term of office. S/he shall serve or appoint others to serve as liaison with other professional societies. S/he is an ex officio member of the Advisory Board of the Association’s journal Organization Studies. The Chairperson can be dismissed by decision of the Board made by two thirds of the members present, but the Chairperson is entitled to exercise his/her right as defendant.

Article 8: Finance and Administration
Section 1: Regular members pay an annual membership fee, which is reviewed annually by the Board. Honorary members do not pay a fee. Any change of membership fees is subject to ratification by the General Assembly

Section 2: The Board will draw up the accounts of the expenditures and receipts of the Association for the previous financial year, as well as the budget for the next year. The financial year begins on the 1st of January and ends 31st of December. The Financial Statement for the past year and the budget for the next year will posted on the EGOS web under Member area. The budget will be posted in early February and the Financial Statement for the past year in May. Members will be informed by e-mail about the on-line voting period for the two documents.

Article 9: Amendments to Statutes
Amendments to the Statutes shall be in accordance with the following rules:

A/ Notice of resolutions shall be submitted in writing by the Board not less than three months before the date of the Annual General Assembly.

B/ At least two thirds of the membership is required to be present to pass a resolution involving an amendment of the Statutes. If the prescribed number of members present prescribed is not attained, a new invitation may be sent out. The following General Assembly will settle the question regardless of the number of members present.

C/ the resolution and any amendments thereto, shall require a three quarters majority of those present.

D/ Proposals for amendments can be submitted by the Board or by a group of at least fifty members.

Article 10: Dissolution
The General Assembly can decide to dissolve the Association, under the conditions provided for the amendment of the statutes. If the dissolution is accepted, the Assembly will designate the liquidator(s), determine their powers and indicate the use to which the net assets of the Association should be put, it being understood that the beneficiaries should pursue goals similar to those of the Association.