The presentation will focus on a research project within an anticipation and qualificational research context. The project is aiming to use the expert knowledge of change managers to get access to the development of new skills and competence requirements in companies. Results of the research are being presented, gained from: 1. a survey of companies, 2. interviews with experts in the fields of HRD/HRM and organisational development from different institutional backgrounds and 3. case studies of re- organisation processes of companies in industrial and in the service sector. From a more sociology of knowledge perspective finally, the value of expert knowledge is reflected as an empirical instrument to get access to processes of organisational change and the effects for HRD and competence development strategies of companies Companies increasingly ask for consultancy and change management services from external consultancy institutions and also from change experts within companies. Change managers can provide different services within these processes. They help to identify problems, develop common definitions of objectives and strategies for solutions, they are coaching management and shop- floor staff, they moderate communication, re-organise work, accompany and evaluate the implementation of change measures. In order to provide these services, change managers need a comprehensive knowledge about the organisation: hierarchies and power structures, communication, work-organisation, the "theories in use" of a company as exist e.g. in routines, rules, priorities and commitments. The roles of change managers, depending from the respective institutional backgrounds, their commitments and the background "philosophy" often shift between participating/shaping roles and more facilitating/moderating roles. The assumption is, that the experience and knowledge of change managers, gained from their different roles and services provided, is a good empirical resource to analyse processes and conditions of organisational change and its effects on skills and competence requirements. The analysis of the research results will focus firstly on contexts, strategies and methods/instruments for identifying training/learning needs and on profiling skills and competencies applied by change experts. Best practice of strategies to identify learning and training needs, developed by change experts will be analysed. Secondly, the organisational and individual barriers change experts met within these processes of the identification of learning and training needs are discussed. They give reasons why companies have problems to describe what future qualificational and training needs they will have beyond their actual needs and why descriptions of skills and competence requirements in terms of functional, specialised knowledge are not sufficient. In a third part we will analyse, what kind of knowledge do change managers have about changing skills and competence requirements . The interviews are less focused on new trends in specialised skills and qualifications, but they provide a rich source of descriptions and examples on how changing organisational settings influence work- and skill requirements in companies. Especially the increasing role of team, group and project-organisation and the consequent implementation of service and client- orientation within the work-process and organisation have important consequences for communication, co-operation and problem-solving competencies. In particular the development of new qualification profiles which are cross-functional and sometimes defined as "hybrid competencies" are highlighted. Finally, we evaluate the research results around the following questions: What kind of understanding do we get about organisational change, competence development and HRD/HRM, based on the experience of change managers? What does it mean for the results, that we use the "observations of observers", and the interpretations of change managers of their roles as active participants within the change process? The knowledge of change experts gives us insight about phases of turbulent change, about the breaking down of routines and traditions within companies. Is it possible to start from here describing more general trends of emerging new skills and competence requirements?