Organisational development encompasses a wide range of strategic processes and activities that enable companies to continuously improve their structures and teams and adapt them to the requirements of changing markets.

The term is so broad that it overwhelms many companies.

• Isn’t everything that moves a company forward structurally and organisationally, in some way, organisational development?
• Who is responsible for this?
• And what does not fall under organisational development?

In this practical guide, we answer these questions—supported by numerous real-world examples.

Organisational development is the systematic creation and optimisation of business units and structures, business processes, workflows and units. Its purpose is to enable companies to continuously adapt their processes, structures and units to the challenges of markets.

Put simply, the task of organisational development is to develop a company or organisation from state A to state B. That is a major simplification, because in practice many areas of a company have current and target states. Especially in rapidly changing markets, target states change quickly.

In practice, organisational development includes all fields of activity that help develop an organisation’s structures, processes and knowledge in the strategically required directions. These include, for example,

• quality management,
• process management and continuous process optimisation, as well as
• idea management and the continuous improvement process.

In practice, risk management, knowledge management and innovation management are also often part of organisational development.

Organisational development is often carried out by introducing so-called “management systems”, such as ISO 9001:2015. The primary focus of organisational development is on processes, structures and teams.

• The requirement to increase revenue in a specific area by twenty percent is not part of organisational development.
• Creating structures and processes to be able to handle the expected increase in customers is attributed to organisational development.

Introducing a quality management system in accordance with ISO 9001: 2026 and obtaining the associated ISO certification are, in many companies, the responsibility of organisational development.

Management systems are a key tool for systematic organisational development. Standards such as ISO 9001 (quality management), ISO 14001 (environmental management) and ISO 27001 (information security management) provide clear guidelines you can use to align your organisation in a structured way. This enables you to further develop processes, structures and responsibilities in a targeted manner and achieve sustainable improvements. The video clearly explains the differences between these three management systems.

A major advantage of management systems that follow ISO standards is that they can be certified. ISO 9001 certification is a visible seal of quality for professional organisational development.

Introducing a management system is a structured step towards targeted organisational development. You first analyse your company’s current state, define clear objectives, and derive suitable processes and responsibilities from them. Based on the ISO guidelines, transparent structures are created that are applied in day-to-day operations and continuously improved. This ensures your organisation develops not by chance, but systematically and measurably.

1. Define processes clearly: Simply write down your most important workflows once—who does what and when. This helps you avoid chaos and establish clear responsibilities.
2. Reflect regularly: Take a moment, e.g. once a month, to review: What is working well, and where are there problems? This way you improve your company step by step.
3. Involve employees: Actively involve your team—employees often know best where processes can be improved.