Relationship Type

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A Relationship Type identifies the meaning of a relationship between two or more subjects.

The Relationship Type defines how the participating subjects are related. It may also establish the permitted participant types, direction, cardinality, symmetry, transitivity, context, and other constraints applicable to the relationship.

A Relationship Type may identify:

• A stable identifier or code
• A preferred label
• A definition
• Permitted source-subject types
• Permitted target-subject types
• Source and target semantics
• Directionality
• Cardinality constraints
• Symmetry or asymmetry
• Transitivity or non-transitivity
• Permitted contexts
• Applicable temporal constraints
• Applicable validation rules
• A status
• A version
• A source or governing authority

A Relationship Type remains distinct from a relationship instance. The Relationship Type defines the meaning and constraints of a relationship type. A relationship instance records the participating subjects and the applicable type.

For example, `Parent Organization Of` is a Relationship Type. A relationship identifying Example Holdings as the parent Organization of Example Bank is an instance of that Relationship Type.

Relationship Types should be maintained in a Controlled Vocabulary when systems must validate, exchange, compare, or automatically process relationship information.

classification that specifies the meaning and applicable constraints of a relationship

Adapted from:

• W3C Organization Ontology

  • Relevant concepts and relationships: linked to, has suborganization, suborganization of, has unit, unit of, member of, reports to, and specialization of organizational relationships
  • Retrieved: 2026-10-08
• OMG Commons Parties and Situations Ontology

  • Relevant concepts and relationships: Party, Situation, Role, relationship, employment, ownership, control, and qualified relationships
  • Retrieved: 2026-10-08
• OMG Commons Organizations Ontology

  • Relevant concepts and relationships: Organization, Organizational Part, Organization Membership, Service Provider, and organizational relationships
  • Retrieved: 2026-10-08
• W3C Recommendation: SKOS Simple Knowledge Organization System Reference

  • Relevant concepts and relationships: Concept, Concept Scheme, preferred label, definition, notation, semantic relationship, and Controlled Vocabulary
  • Retrieved: 2026-10-08

This corpus defines the expression Relationship Type. The referenced sources define specific relationships and mechanisms for specializing or classifying relationships but do not necessarily define a concept having this exact name or scope.

• A Relationship Type defines relationship semantics
• A relationship instance applies a Relationship Type to specified subjects
• A Relationship Type does not identify the subjects participating in a particular relationship instance
• The permitted participant types may differ between Relationship Types
• A directed Relationship Type distinguishes source and target positions
• A symmetric Relationship Type permits the participating subjects to be interchanged without changing the relationship meaning
• An asymmetric Relationship Type assigns different meanings to the source and target positions
• A transitive Relationship Type permits a relationship to be inferred across an applicable relationship chain
• A Relationship Type may prohibit transitive inference
• Cardinality constraints may limit the number of relationships in which a subject may participate
• Temporal constraints may require a relationship instance to identify an Effective Period
• Context-specific constraints may limit where or when the Relationship Type applies
• A Relationship Type should have a stable identifier when systems reference it independently of its label
• Changing a Relationship Type label does not necessarily change the identity of the Relationship Type
• Changing the meaning or constraints of a Relationship Type may require a new version or a new Relationship Type
• The platform-independent definition does not require a particular enumeration, code list, URI scheme, programming-language type, database representation, or serialization format

The Organization Relationship Type Controlled Vocabulary contains the following entries:

Example Holdings and Example Bank participate in an Organizational Relationship having:

• Example Holdings as the source Organization
• Example Bank as the target Organization
• `Parent Organization Of` as the Relationship Type

The Relationship Type establishes the meaning of the source and target positions. The Organizational Relationship records the participating Organizations.

A platform-specific implementation may represent the Relationship Type Controlled Vocabulary as an enumeration:

enum OrganizationRelationshipType {
    PARENT_ORGANIZATION_OF,
    SUBSIDIARY_OF,
    CONTAINS_ORGANIZATIONAL_UNIT,
    SERVICE_PROVIDER_FOR,
    CUSTOMER_OF,
    AFFILIATED_WITH
}

The enumeration is an implementation representation of the Controlled Vocabulary. It is not the authoritative definition of the Relationship Types or their semantics.