2.3 Discussion: Borland Case Casting Light and Shadows

Borland case Baseline Ethics

Rahul Mothe

Indiana Wesleyan University

Sonnet Johnston

01/10/2021

1. Briefly summarize the Borland Case.

Borland International is a software company which was run by Phillipe Kahn established in 1983. When they acquired Aston-Tate in 1991 for $440 million with some brilliant business moves, this company came to light. While it was under Phillipe Kahn, Borland company has very high motivation even to challenge Microsoft in those times. This case would be a great example of how different people think of this company's intelligence from different perspectives.

The rubric also talks about how Mr. Kahn did make some moves to advertise his product in one of the major magazines, which in return made him a profit of $150,000.

2. Clearly identify and discuss each of the Four Levels of Ethical Issues from your reading in the Human Relations text that are present in the Borland case.

Societal issues: The actions taken by Mr. Kahn can be thought of in two ways. It might be useful for his employees to have an intelligent manager who has some strategies to bring up the company. Whereas for the competing companies which rely on working hard for profits does not feel the actions by Mr. Kahn ethical. 

Stakeholder issues: Once the company comes into light for all their unethical strategies, All the people working for Borland international will be affected with the decisions by their CEO.

Internal Policy issues: Not sure if the company's CEO is discussing his unethical strategies with the inferiors' people. If not, he should be discussing and deciding from the discussion rather than making decisions on his own. This decision making without approaching anyone is going to affect every individual of the company.

Personal issues: The CEO of Borland international who is representing the company is not treating other companies who are working ethically with the recognition they need and putting every employees prestige at risk.

3. What do you think about Kahn’s actions? Do his actions amount to shrewd business, deception, or both?

I think his actions vary with the company I work for. If I work for Mr. Kahn, I would think of his activities as a wise business strategy. I would believe in such a way that he is trying to develop the company I am working for intelligently. Whereas if I am working for a company other than Borland International, I would consider his actions as a deceptive action by Mr. Kahn.

4. Some might argue that since everyone “won” in the end, Kahn’s decision was ethical. Do you agree? Why or why not?

In the given perspective the magazine company won by providing big sales as well as the Borland company gaining recognition as well as income. It is going to be ethical for the employees working for Borland until this thinking comes into light. If I were working for Borland during these times, I would feel really guilty and embarrassed about myself for working with an unethical company in front of my friends who work for different companies as we as an organization cheated on an system and choose a shortcut.

5. Review the Ted Talk Our Buggy Moral Code. What is a personal fudge factor? Does Kahn’s actions in the Borland case violate your personal fudge factor? Why or Why not?

After watching the ted talk by Dan Ariely, I liked how he gave an example on how personal fudge plays an important role in understanding things. Personal fudge factor is considered as an individual perception of a situation. It can be different from your perspective compared to the one from another person. For me personal fudge factor Doctor Kahn’s move of hiring people and made them look busy was a stunt to get attention from the byte magazine. Though there is nothing illegal about it I feel it is little bit unethical to the other companies who are trying to do things ethically.

6. If you were Kahn, what might have been some ways to achieve the same outcome but in a more ethical manner? How do these approaches take into account the four levels of ethical issues from your reading?

If I were Kahn, I would have initially reached out to byte magazine and would have explained my situation to the officials of the magazine. I would at least try to convince the team at byte by showing my intent to grow and show my strategies for my company upbringing.

References

Our buggy moral code. (2009). https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_our_buggy_moral_code?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare#t-233575

Human Relations. https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_human-relations/s09-be-ethical-at-work.html