If the three sides of the box are about; the fundaments of the change, the organizational scope and the depth of the change or the impact, than there is still something missing.

It is not an important part. In fact, for managing change you should not give it too much attention.

The contents of the change is about the business area or the area of expertise. Each company has its own business environment or sector:

• Agriculture
• Consumer products
• Energy
• Financial services
• Government
• Industry and Business Services
• Information technology
• Pharmaceutical & biotechnology industry
• Materials
• Utility

The relevant question about the business area in relation to change is whether the energy needed to make changes is correlated with the contents or not. Put differently; is the challenge in managing change located in mastering new developments in the area of expertise?

Each environment like agriculture and information technology will experience alterations over time. Some of those developments will even make that different sectors will overlap each other; the supermarkets are able to issue travel and leisure services or even up to financial services.

If we look back to the depth of the change which has been discussed by the change checklist, we know that the impact is related to business process and the required resources. The impact can be defined for any company in any business. The topics of change are similar in most cases. What differentiates one change from others is the specific business area the company is part of. But for managing change, this is hardly a topic.

This is especially true if you hire an external consultant or advisor. It is best that each side focuses on its strength. The change manager should know about some sector specifics, but too much interference with the content will delay the change process.

2006 Hans Bool