But Wynn says even companies that don't hire anthropologists are benefiting from their work, as anthropological tools and approaches used in places such as Intel, IBM and Pitney Bowes bleed out to other companies. "The methods and approaches of anthropology have spread a lot," she says, "and with that, there is a potential for a very large impact."

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Anthropologists in IT: The ROI

Studies showing the return on investment that anthropologists bring to IT are hard to come by -- if they exist at all, but Jim Euchner has some figures that proved the value to him.

As vice president of process improvement at Nynex in the early 1990s, Euchner oversaw the deployment of a system designed to diagnose problems with phone lines. To his surprise, workers in the 42 maintenance centers equipped with the new Maintenance Administration Expert (MAX) used it differently from site to site. Some managers loved it, while others hated it, saying it made their work harder.