What's it called when you have a data structure that looks like an org chart?

At the most general it is a graph. Since there is a directed relationship between the nodes (namely from the child nodes to the parent) it is also a directed graph or digraph. Presumably there are no loops in the graph (i.e.

A -> B, B -> C, C -> A) so it is an directed acyclical graph (DAG). And since there is also likely to be a single root node it is also a tree.

2 I think you're right. Dumb question now that I look at it. – jcollum Jun 29 '09 at 16:49 1 Yup.

Some would probably call it a n-ary ordered tree. – nos Jun 29 '09 at 16:50 Don't think it's an ordered tree. As stated, there is no need to sort siblings.

There is no natural order that applies. Call it an n-ary unordered tree. – Alan Jun 29 '09 at 22:15.

I would simply call it a tree. Though technically there may be a term for a non-binary && non-balanced tree. IMO, tree works fine.

I might also refer to it as hierarchical data.

A really screwed up organization may only be able to represented by a graph. ;-).

Matrix management, or even just a few "dotted lines" would mean it wasn't a tree without being totally screwed. – Richard Jul 5 '09 at 8:56.

It's just a tree. There's no need for any more distinction than that, IMO.

As long as any one node does not reference more than one direct parent, then it can be a tree.

A mathematician would say it is a rooted tree, as in graph theory trees need not have a root. In computer science almost all trees come with roots, so as the others have pointed out it is called just a tree.

As everyone points out, you probably don't need anything more complicated than a tree. To the more complicated structures like a graph, it's not entirely crazy. See Martin Fowler's paper on accountability structures.

That said, I can say from first hand experience, it's better to avoid modeling an org tree as a graph, when you don't need it.

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