Behavioral Sciences and the Law Behav. Sci. Law 23: 65–96 (2005) Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/bsl.627 Emerging Technologies and Corporate Culture at Microsoft: A Methodological Note David Kleiny, James Schmelingz and Peter Blanck*,§ This article explores factors important in the study and examination of corporate culture and change. The parti- cular focus is on the technological methods used to conduct a study of accessible technology and corporate culture at Microsoft Corporation. Reasons for particular approaches are explained. Advantages and challenges of emerging technologies that store and retrieve information in the study of corporate culture are reviewed. Copyright # 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. INTRODUCTION The Law, Health Policy & Disability Center (LHPDC) undertook a study of the corporate culture of a large corporation, Microsoft (MS), to understand better how persons with disabilities are included in the workforce and how accessible software and hardware products evolve in the information technology (IT) industry (see Sandler & Blanck, 2005). Implications for the study of corporate culture as well as for the conduct of research and methods for studying IT or IT-using companies are discussed herein. The study of IT and IT-using organizations presents challenges that require development of new approaches in data collection and analysis. Data are available in new and evolving electronic formats and media, which require *Correspondence to: Peter Blanck, Law, Health Policy and Disability Center, University of Iowa College of Law, Iowa City, IA 52242, U.S.A. E-mail:
[email protected] yDirector of Technology, Law, Health Policy and Disability Center (LHPDC), University of Iowa College of Law; Ph.D., University of Iowa.