This paper argues that conventional theories of change and competence management seem to be inadequate to cope with organizational concepts possessing high abstraction level. A theoretical framework that blends change, knowledge management and soft issues was applied in order to analyse the process of development and implementation of a competence management project. It was found that key aspects were related to 'soft' aspects embedded in the process of customizing, building consent and interpreting risks and benefits associated with the development and implementation of the concept of competence. This contributes towards the integration of competence, knowledge and change management theorie