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Organization Structure Pattern

Pattern Type: CCO Organizational Pattern
Domain: Organizational modeling and collective agents
Based on: CCO Design Patterns

Problem​

How do we model complex organizational structures with hierarchies, memberships, and collective decision-making processes?

Solution​

Use the CCO Organization Structure pattern where:

  • Organizations are collective agents composed of multiple agents
  • Membership Relations define agent participation in organizations
  • Organizational Roles specify responsibilities within the organization
  • Collective Acts represent organizational decision-making and actions

Pattern Structure​

Implementation​

Core Classes​

  • Organization - Collective agent with shared purpose
  • Agent - Individual agents within organization
  • Role - Organizational roles and responsibilities
  • Act - Collective organizational actions

Key Relations​

  • cco:has_member - Organization has member agents
  • cco:bearer_of - Agents bear organizational roles
  • cco:agent_in - Agents participate in collective acts
  • cco:part_of - Sub-organizations are parts of larger organizations

AI Context Examples​

AI Research Organization​

@prefix abi: <http://ontology.naas.ai/abi/> .
@prefix cco: <http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/> .

# AI Research Lab
abi:OpenAI a cco:Organization ;
    rdfs:label "OpenAI"@en ;
    cco:has_member abi:ResearchScientist1,
                   abi:MLEngineer1,
                   abi:ProductManager1 .

# Organizational roles
abi:ChiefScientistRole a cco:Role ;
    rdfs:label "Chief Scientist Role"@en .

abi:ResearchScientist1 a cco:Agent ;
    cco:bearer_of abi:ChiefScientistRole .

# Collective decision-making
abi:ModelReleaseDecision a cco:Act ;
    rdfs:label "Model Release Decision"@en ;
    cco:agent_in abi:OpenAI ;
    cco:has_participant abi:ResearchScientist1,
                        abi:ProductManager1 .

Multi-Agent AI System​

# AI Agent Collective
abi:AIAgentSwarm a abi:Organization ;
    rdfs:label "AI Agent Swarm"@en ;
    cco:has_member abi:CoordinatorAgent,
                   abi:WorkerAgent1,
                   abi:WorkerAgent2 .

# Specialized roles
abi:CoordinatorRole a cco:Role ;
    rdfs:label "Swarm Coordinator Role"@en .

abi:WorkerRole a cco:Role ;
    rdfs:label "Worker Agent Role"@en .

abi:CoordinatorAgent a abi:AIAgent ;
    cco:bearer_of abi:CoordinatorRole .

abi:WorkerAgent1 a abi:AIAgent ;
    cco:bearer_of abi:WorkerRole .

# Collective task execution
abi:SwarmTaskExecution a cco:Act ;
    cco:agent_in abi:AIAgentSwarm ;
    cco:has_participant abi:CoordinatorAgent,
                        abi:WorkerAgent1,
                        abi:WorkerAgent2 .

Hierarchical Organization​

# Parent organization
abi:TechCorporation a cco:Organization ;
    rdfs:label "Technology Corporation"@en ;
    cco:has_part abi:AIResearchDivision,
                 abi:ProductDevelopmentDivision .

# Sub-organizations
abi:AIResearchDivision a cco:Organization ;
    rdfs:label "AI Research Division"@en ;
    cco:part_of abi:TechCorporation ;
    cco:has_member abi:AIResearcher1,
                   abi:AIResearcher2 .

# Cross-organizational collaboration
abi:ProductLaunchProject a cco:Act ;
    cco:has_participant abi:AIResearchDivision,
                        abi:ProductDevelopmentDivision .

Benefits​

  1. Scalability - Models organizations of any size and complexity
  2. Hierarchy Support - Handles nested organizational structures
  3. Role Flexibility - Agents can have multiple roles across organizations
  4. Collective Agency - Organizations can act as unified agents
  5. Dynamic Membership - Supports changing organizational membership

Variations​

Temporary Organizations​

Organizations formed for specific projects:

abi:ProjectTeam a cco:Organization ;
    rdfs:label "AI Model Development Team"@en ;
    cco:has_temporal_part abi:ProjectDuration ;
    cco:has_member abi:TempMember1,
                   abi:TempMember2 .

Virtual Organizations​

Distributed organizations without physical location:

abi:VirtualAICollaborative a cco:Organization ;
    rdfs:label "Virtual AI Research Collaborative"@en ;
    cco:has_member abi:RemoteResearcher1,
                   abi:RemoteResearcher2 ;
    cco:located_in abi:CyberSpace .

See Also​