Associations

Associations of Organizations with other Organizations

Organizations can be associated with each other in a variety of manners. Here we describe how to represent various associations between organizations.

Affiliation

An organization can be affiliated with another organization. In the Organization Ontology, affiliation is a broad term and may mean and association that is not further specified. The only restriction on affiliation is that it is symmetric. If organization x is affiliated with organization y, then organization x is affiliated with organization y.

We say simply

x a organization
y a organization
y affiliated_with x

for which we can infer 1:

x affiliated_with y

Structure

Representing organizational structure is a common need. The Organization Ontology has two properties, has_organizational_part and organizational_part_of, to specify the relationship between an organizational part and its parent organization (which may also be an organizational part).

For example, if x represents Baylor University, and y represents its College of Medicine we would assert:

x has_organizational_part y

from which we could infer y organizational_part_of x 2.

Spin-offs

Representing organizations that spin-off from other organizations is done using has spin-off organization” and *spin-off organization off properties.

For example, to represent that y spun-off of x, we would assert:

y spin-off_organization_of x

from which we could infer x has_spin-off_organization y 2.

In some cases, we want to know more about the nature of the spin-off process, including dates of various milestones, people who participated, documents involved, and more. spin-off process is an entity in which other entities may participate, and as an occurrent, may have one or more spin-off process boundaries as occurent parts. See Dates and Times for representation of time-based entities.

History

In some cases, we may wish to assert that organization y is the successor of organization x, meaning that x has ceased to exist, y now exists, and that the result of the dissolution of x was the formation of y. The inverse of successor_of is has_successor. We can say either y successor_of x or x has_successor y 2.

We say:

x a organization
y a organization
y successor_of x

In some cases, we want to know more about the nature of the succession process, including dates of various milestones, people who participated, documents involved, and more. succession process is an entity in which other entities may participate, and as an occurrent, may have one or more succession process boundaries as occurent parts. See Dates and Times for representation of time-based entities.

Membership

Organizations may be members of other organizations. If x is a member of y, we can simple say

x member_of y

and we can equivalently say y has_member x 2.

In some cases, we may need to know more about the membership, which is an asymmetric relationship of two organizations – one organization is the member and the other organization has granted membership to the member organization.

This is shown in Figure 4. Since Membership is an occurent, it can have time-related assertions.

Figure 4. General membership pattern. Organization 1 has a member role in a membership. Organization 2 has a grantor role in the membership.

To say that v was a member of z through a membership x, we would assert:

v bearer_of w
w a organizational_member_role
w realized_in x
x a organizational_membership
x realizes y
y a organizational_membership_grantor_role
y inheres_in z

Since each of these properties has an inverse, we could equivalently have asserted:

z bearer_of y
y a organizational_membership_grantor_role
y realized_in z
x a organizational_membership
x realizes w
w a organizational_member_role
w inheres_in x

Note that this detail is typically only needed in cases where we wanted to say more about the roles, or membership entity.

Future work – Associations of Organizations to Occurents

Organizations have associations to occurent such as projects, performances, and events. Future ontological work in one or more of these domains should create the properties and classes needed to represent how organizations are associated with them.

Associations of Organizations and People

In a similar manner to the associations between organizations and organizations, we can associate organizations and people. And in a similar manner, we can simply say the organization has an association with a person, or we can use an intermediate entity and roles to describe how the organization and person are related, providing detail regarding dates, documents, processes, and participants in the association between an organization and a person.

Has Employee / Employer Of

To assert a person is an employee of an organization, we can simply say

x has_employee y

or, equivalently, we can say:

y has_employee x

The entity position is a relationship between a person and an organization. A person may one of several roles with respect to the position. An organization may have one of several roles with respect to the position. See Figure 5.

Figure 5. General employee pattern. Organization 1 has a member role in a membership. Organization 2 has a grantor role in the membership.

To say that v was an employee of z through a position x, we would assert:

v bearer_of w
w a organizational_employee_role
w realized_in x
x a organizational_position
x realizes y
y a organizational_employer_role
y inheres_in z

Since each of these properties has an inverse, we could equivalently have asserted:

z bearer_of y
y a organizational_employer_role
y realized_in z
x a organizational_position
x realizes w
w a organizational_employee_role
w inheres_in x

Note that this detail is typically only needed in cases where we wanted to say more about the roles, or membership entity.

Additional Roles and Associations between Organizations and People

Additional roles and properties are available to assert other associations between organizations and people.

has_member/ member_of can be used to assert a person is a member of an organization. person_member_role and person_member_grantor_role can be used as in Figure 5 to assert that a person has a member role in an organization granted by the organization. A membership denotes the association.

Persons are not Organizations

Separate object properties are used to represent associations between organizations and other organizations, and associations between persons and organizations. Separate roles and entities are used to represent person roles in memberships and organizational roles in memberships. Separate entities are used to describe a membership of an organization in another organization, and a membership of a person in an organization.

has_associate / associate_of can be used to assert a person is an associate of an organization. organizational_associate_role and organizational_associate_grantor_role can be used as in Figure 5 to assert that a person has an associate role in an organization granted by the organization. The position denotes the association.

head_of / has_head can be used to assert a person is the head of an organization. organizational_head_role and organizational_head_grantor_role can be used as in Figure 5 to assert that a person has a head role in an organization granted by the organization. The position denotes the relationship.

has_volunteer / volunteer_of can be used to assert a person is a volunteer of an organization. organizational_volunteer_role and organizational_volunteer_grantor_role can be used as in Figure 5 to assert that a person has a volunteer role in an organization granted by the organization. The position denotes the relationship.

has_appointee / appointee_of can be used to assert a person is an appointee of an organization. organizational_appointee_role and organizational_appointee_grantor_role can be used as in Figure 5 to assert that a person has an appointee role in an organization granted by the organization. The position denotes the association.

Footnotes

1

Some inferencers are able to create/materialize symmetric assertions. Some query engines will satisfy query requirements as if the assertion had been materialized.

2(1,2,3,4)

Some inferencers are able to create/materialize inverse assertions. Some query engines will satisfy query requirements as if the assertion had been materialized.