3.2 Discussion: Borland Case Final Response

As the title of the story suggests, "Borland's Brave Beginning" is very much apt. As the former COE & current chairman Philipe Kahn mentioned, he had a hard time at the company's beginning days. They could not afford comfortable office space or funds to places an ad in Byte Magazine to reach out to a larger audience/Customers for his products. So, Kahn manipulated the Byte Magazine salesman to place an ad in Byte Magazine for affordable credit terms.

There are Four levels of Ethical issues are, The first level – Societal Issues, the Second level – Stakeholder Issues, the Third level – Ethical Internal Policy Issues, & The Fourth level – Personal Issues. The four levels of Ethical issues are present in Borland's case identified as follows:

· Borland's case addresses the First level – Societal issues by creating the Capital of $440 million by creating one of the biggest software companies and building an asset of $100 million headquarters.

· As mentioned in the story, the Second level – Stakeholder Issues; "the beginnings of the Borland was morally questionable, whereas others refer to it as Smart moves within the game." So, it was Mr. Kahn's smart thinking that got him to place an ad with Byte Magazine; in turn, he sold $150,000.00 worth of software. Which is unethical but not illegal actions (As referred to in chapter 5.1).

· The Third level – Internal Policy Issues were addressed when Mr. Kahn had hired extra employees to scurry around & made sure that the phone keeps ringing to look busy to manipulate the salesman to place an ad with Byte Magazine.

· The Fourth level – Personal Issues, as it's referred to in the rubric story that at some point Mr. Kahn had entertained the ideas of challenging Microsoft as it is a top software manufacturing company, while the Borland company had hard times.

After analyzing all the scenarios, I noticed that the players in this Borland's case are benefitted Financially and Economically in the First, Second & Third levels. Whereas they Ethically failed in the Third & Fourth levels, as explained in the above steps.

I think that Mr. Kahn's actions as a bit of both Shrewd & Deception, as his quick thinking got him software sales of $150,000.00; also, I cannot ignore the fact That he had to deceive the salesman from Byte Magazine to place an ad which got him the software sales.

I can't entirely agree that Kahn's actions were Ethical, even though everyone won in the end. Because his actions were unethical but only exception is that his activities were not illegal (As referenced in Chapter-5 from Human Relations OER, as an Example: A Television Crew filming Drunken women drive her car, to spread awareness on alcoholism). But he did accept all this in an interview with Inc. Magazine in 1989, which probably accounts for his moral ethics.

Personal Fudge Factor is nothing but a limit to which human beings can cheat comfortably without feeling guilty about their actions. This fudge factor can be Expanded or compressed depending on the scenarios and what is at stake to lose. According to the research in Ted Talk: Our Buggy Moral Code, it is proven that people tend to cheat less when they are reminded of their Moral code. In Borland's case, Mr. Kaha's did violate a little bit of my fudge factor by deceiving the salesman from Byte Magazine. Later, he did accept these things during an interview that shows he was honest about it. In recent times I think many corporate companies are deceiving in one way or another to attract customers; for Ex: Skincare & Haircare product ads influence the buyers by exaggerating the product benefits. I think these issues at least to be addressed in internal policies.

If I was Kahn, some ways to achieve the same outcomes as Borland but in more ethical practices would be: 1) Raising initial Capital for the company to sustain by reaching out to local Banks/Financial Centers for a loan. 2) By bringing more investors/Stakeholders on board by explaining future financial benefits for each investor/stakeholder and to the country by generating Revenue. 3) By reaching out to the local government for help, as this company provides jobs to many local citizens & in returns generate Revenue for the country. By following any one of the ways described above and not fall prey to personal issues, the Borland will result in the same/better financial status. Because having enough Capital to run the company would result in Successful Ethical levels in the First, second, & Third level. Because at this point, Mr. Kahn does not have to deceive any salesman & he could afford to pay for an ad in Byte Magazine. As per for success of the fourth level of an ethical issue by all the incidents above, Mr. Kahn would have modeled a higher moral code due to which the company would still be in a better place instead of falling into hard times (As referenced in Sources of Ethics from models in Chapter-5 Human Relations OER).

References

Be ethical at work. (n.d.). Site not found · GitHub Pages. https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_human-relations/s09-be-ethical-at-work.html

Johnson, C. E. (2017). Meeting the ethical challenges of leadership: Casting light or shadow. SAGE Publications.

Ariely, D. (2009, February). Our buggy moral code. TED: Ideas worth spreading. https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_our_buggy_moral_code?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

https://brightspace.indwes.edu/d2l/le/content/131475/viewContent/2209913/View

Thank you

Sowmya Nagraj