$departments = array('id','name',array()));
but I would do this
class department {
var $id,$name,$employees;
function department($id,$name) {
$this->id = $id;
$this->name = $name;
$this->employees = array();
} //end department
function add_emp($id,$name) {
$employee = new employee($id,$name);
array_push($this->employees, $employee);
} //end add_emp
} //end department
class employee{
var $id,$name;
function employee($id,$name) {
$this->id = $id;
$this->name = $name;
} //end employee
} //end employee
of course you real classes will have a lot more functionality then this.