1. Review the attachment - Core Values and Ethics of Organization Development: The Ethically Dubious Line of Covertly Gathering Data at Robo-works and Other Challenges and answer the following questions:

a. Is it ethical to covertly gather data on employees for any purpose? Is it okay for compliance gaining? For security?

b. What are the risks (potential negative outcomes) to employees, executives, or organizational cultures when data are collected covertly? Are there benefits to covert data collection?

c. If you found out that your organization had been spying on you with undercover employees or consultants, how would you react?

d. How can OD consultants best communicate negative news and information to clients? Should they ever withhold information from clients?

THE OPPORTUNITY: RoboWorksl is a rapidly growing technology company that manufactures parts such as drives, controllers, and servomotors for autonomously operated machines. Its corporate ofce, assembly plant, and distribution center are located on a single industrial campus in Texas. Although relatively young, it is no longer considered a startup company. In the years leading up to the consulting efforts conducted in a partnership between Organizational Communication Specialists (OCS), a company specializing in process consulting approaches, and CPI, LLC, a private investigation firm, the company held a spot on the Inc. 5000 list (Inc. magazine's list of fastest-growing rms in the United States). 1. As with all the names in this case, Robo-Works is a pseudonym. Also, please note that this case contains obscured material details so that information cannot be linked to any specific patty represented herein. While all scenarios are real and practical based on the author's consulting experiences, this case uses a technique called ctionalization. Due to rapid growth, Robo-Works had been on a hiring binge. Executives hoped to better organize their human resource system since they felt it was becoming unruly. Poor human resource management posed risks to its competitive advantageisuccess in this sector relied on bringing to market new technologies and system improvements faster than competitors. For this reason, and it is no secret that within industries marked by fast change, corporate espionage is a real and ongoing threat (Manojlovi, 2014). Strong HR and communication controls are therefore vital to Robo-Work's competitive advantage. The hiring binge, however, weakened these controls. What is more, the organization was trying to implement systemic changes to atten the organizational structure, since executives felt the administration-to-staff ratio was too high. In other words, significant changes (including downsizing in some departments) was taking place