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NASA vs SpaceX
fascinating (37) (/@fascinating)en #space (/trending/space) • hace 5
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SpaceX and NASA are two aeronautic space companies that are currently
in a competition to reach Mars. Top Managers directly impact a business
or organization’s success through the use of Fayol’s four functions;
planning, organizing, leading and controlling (Windsor 2004). This is
evident in the organizations SpaceX and NASA where the top manager’s
use of the functions is detrimental to a company’s success. SpaceX,
founded by Elon Musk in 2002, is an aerospace company pushing the
forefront of space exploration (Vance 2015). They have successfully
revolutionizing the industry by slashing the cost of rocket production via
reusable rockets and in-house development. Musk, accredited for SpaceX’s
success, is the CEO and CTO of SpaceX. NASA, headed by Robert M.
Lightfoot (NASA Content Administrator 2012), is an independent agency of
the US federal government formed in 1958 (Launius 2003). NASA today
lacks innovation and strong management, forcing them to rely on other
countries and companies like SpaceX to do basic tasks like restocking the
international space station (Government Accountability Office 2011).
Success in the aeronautics industry is deemed by the innovation and
exploration done by the organization. This essayIniciar
will argue
sesión that NASA has
unsuccessfully
(/) utilized Fayol’s four functions in (/login.html)
comparison toInscribirse
SpaceX who
have effectively used these functions, leading to their success.

Planning is deciding the direction of a company and devising a plan on

how to get there (Wren, Bedeain and Breeze 2002). One distinct difference
between SpaceX and NASA is Musk’s incredible drive for the future
described as visionary (Belfiore 2013). SpaceX’s near ridiculous dream is to
reduce the cost of space flight by creating reusable rockets and ultimately
allow everyday citizens to travel to and colonize Mars (Belfiore 2013). The
goals of SpaceX are clear and precise, every single employee in the
company is working towards this goal. Furthermore, SpaceX has a clear
strategy planned to achieve their goals (Gage 2014). They are first starting
with missions to restock the ISS, International Space Station, and missions
for private companies putting satellites into orbit to raise funds for future
missions. The revenue earnt launches them towards their ultimate goal of
reducing the cost of space flight to allow humans to reach mars (Mattise
2017). An example of SpaceX’s successful planning is in the development
and operation of the Falcon 9 rocket which is the first ever reusable rocket
(Powell 2013). SpaceX’s goal was to design a reusable rocket and they
successfully achieved their objective demonstrating their planning ability.
Similarly to SpaceX, NASA also aim to reach Mars. In comparison NASA
lacks drive and a vision being described as having limited launch abilities
and questionable ambition (Vance 2015). NASA lacks the planning to
achieve their goal with their path to mars being described as questionable
with many obstacles distracting from the intended goal (Gage 2014). An
example of where NASA failed to plan was in 2008 when NASA relied on an
outside contractor to resupply the ISS this mission ultimately failed leaving
NASA unable to deliver supplies to the astronauts in space (Government
Accountability Office 2011). This significant difference between SpaceX
and NASA reveals that through Fayol’s function of planning SpaceX’s
clearer plan for the future and steps to get there aid in their success over
NASA.

Fayol’s function organization can be described as organizing physical,

human and financial resources in order to achieve objectives (Taneja and
Pryor 2010). SpaceX utilizes Fayol’s function of organization, arranging
their offices in an open plan to maximize communication (Musk 2010). The
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open space allows
(/) for faster problem solving, increased communication
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between different departments and a general sense of comradery (Vance
2015). Furthermore, SpaceX builds 80% of their rockets in-house with just
6000 staff (SpaceX 2017). This shows that the delegation of physical
resources allows them to optimize the amount of work done by the
company resulting in reduced costs. NASA fails to organize its 17381 staff
(Dunbar 2017) and has turned to outsourcing for their projects (Roberts
2004). Recent US Senate Appropriations subcommittee recommendations
leave NASA without domestic launching capabilities this results in an
increasing independence on private companies and other nations
(Bendemra 2015). Without being able to launch themselves NASA’s
dependence on outsourcing can leave them standard like in June 2015
when a rocket due to resupply the ISS exploded, NASA could do nothing
but ask the contractor what went wrong and when can we next launch
(Bendemra 2015). The work environment at SpaceX is demanding with
long work hours expected. Singh, a former employee, accurately describes
it when he said “Diamonds are created under pressure, and Elon Musk is a
master diamond maker.” (Feloni 2014). In comparison NASA has mixed
reviews with the general consensus being that it is laid back often at a slow
working pace (Glassdoor 2017). The comparison shows a difference in the
working culture between the two companies with SpaceX being an
environment that’s constantly striving while NASA takes it easy. SpaceX’s
clear use of organization of staff allows for them to outperform NASA with
fewer staff.

Fayol’s function of leading encompasses a manager’s ability to motivate

employees in order to achieve a goal or objective (Lamond 2003). SpaceX
had to overcome 3 launch failures before having success. During those
trying times Musk’s use of leadership prevailed. Singh, an employee at
SpaceX, recalled Musk’s motivation, “It went from despair to hope and
focus” (Vance 2015, 199). Musk’s has been described as a visionary leader
with an impressive list of accomplishments however he has some deep
personal flaws (Dobbs 2016). Musk’s most significant flaw is a lack of
loyalty towards his staff. Musk views the world in a different way, he
believes that his endeavor to save the human race cannot be jeopardized
by personal loyalties (Dobbs 2016). Although many of Musk’s past
employees are disgruntled they still respect his work
Iniciarethic,
sesión drive and
dream (Vance(/)2015). Musk really demands the most from his employees
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and for some that is too much to handle. Alternatively, NASA has no
figurehead leader to rally behind which impacts their success in the
industry. Instead they have an associate administrator Robert M. Lightfoot.
To the detriment of the organization the president at any point and can
appoint a new leader, this leads to instability and constant change in vision
(B. Jones 2017). Lightfoot is extremely accomplished and shares a similar
passion with Musk to get to mars (STATE OF ALABAMA ENGINEERING
HALL OF FAME 2010). Musk uses Fayol’s function of leadership to motivate
his employees and drive towards his goal. In comparison Lightfoot is more
concerned about maintaining his job when the next president gets elected
forcing him to focus on the goals of the higher powers.

Fayol’s function of control requires a manager to measure achievement

against predetermined goals and objectives (Norman 2017). SpaceX
displays exceptional feed forward control when planning their budget.
They have achieved a positive cash flow for the last 6 years and have 4.8
billion dollars’ worth of flights booked over the next 5 years (Gage 2014). In
comparison NASA has no forward feed control as all of their funding
comes from the government and they don’t work on a profit (Lewin 1994).
Furthermore, SpaceX successfully used feedback control, after their first 3
rocket launch failures. They determined that the design of the x-33's fuel
tank was the cause of the failure (Government Accountability Office 2011).
SpaceX successfully mitigated the failure by going back and redesign the
fuel tank to withstand the vibrations that caused it to fail the first time
(Werner 2011) .Through successful implementation of the feedback loop
SpaceX has successfully launched every rocket since their initial 3 failures
(Etherington 2017). In comparison when NASA’s rocket challenger failed
the feedback revealed that the failure causing death arose from outside
political pressure and cut corners in the production process (Harkins, et
al. 2016). Instead of resolving the problem NASA shutdown the program
and is no longer capable of manned missions (Vance 2015). SpaceX utilizes
Fayol’s function of control through feed forward and feedback to help
achieve success while NASA ineffectively uses these functions.
It is evident that SpaceX utilizes Fayol’s functions; planning,
Iniciar sesión organizing,
leading and controlling
(/) in operating a successful(/login.html)
business (Nienaber,
Inscribirse
Goldman and Pretorius 2015). NASA has ineffectively used Fayol’s functions
resulting in outsourcing and a lack of vision. Through poor planning NASA
has failed missions and continues to fail setting goals for the future. The
lack of discipline and focus steaming from organizational problems at
NASA has resulted in too many staff being used ineffectively forcing the
reliance on outsourcing. The leadership uncertainty at NASA and the
constant threat of interference from higher powers negatively effects
NASA’s drive towards their goals. NASA’s lack of control over their budget
and negligence shown towards feedback leaves the organization in a
downward spiral. In comparison SpaceX has clear planning and vision
shown through their ability to invent then implement a reusable rocket.
Organization at SpaceX leads to their success through open floor plan to
allow open communication which increases productivity. SpaceX has a
strong leader in Elon Musk who is admired within the company by all
workers, he effectively keeps the staff motivated and focused on the
company goals. SpaceX effectively utilizes feedforward control and
feedback control, this is demonstrated respectively through their excellent
budget and their ability to learn from their mistakes. It is evident through
these two organizations that when a top manager successfully utilizes
Fayol’s four Functions that they directly lead to a successful business.

Bibliography
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Flexible Path(/)to Mars." Washington Academy of (/login.html)
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