Elon Musk and Spacex

Elon Musk and His Journey to SpaceX

The CEO of SpaceX is Elon Musk. Elon Musk was born in South Africa but has American roots. He first founded X.com in 1999, which is now known as PayPal. PayPal is responsible for transferring money all over the world and offers significantly lower expenses than banks when transferring money internationally. Following this, he founded SpaceX in 2002 and Tesla Motors in 2003. Elon Musk became wealthy and a millionaire after selling his company Zip2. Elon Musk primarily played a role in decision-making. He experienced a quarter-life crisis in his 30s, leading him to invest his money (180 million) in something related to space. His first move was connecting with people who shared his interest in space exploration, known as the Mars Society. Elon Musk was the inventor, which makes sense, as he had the authority to decide where to invest his money. Elon Musk adopted a democratic leadership style, which was necessary as he was new to the space industry and needed to listen to every member of the Mars Society due to his lack of experience in the field.

The Organizational Culture of SpaceX

When discussing SpaceX, there are four organizational cultures that it aligns with: Clan, Adhocracy, Hierarchy, and Market. SpaceX predominantly falls under the Clan culture, which is based on flexibility and discretion. Initially, SpaceX incurred losses as they were unable to send any rockets into space. Each rocket launch cost millions, and they struggled to build a zero-error rocket. Despite these challenges, they persevered and eventually succeeded. To thrive in today's global economy, companies must rely on a geographically dispersed workforce. Building teams reinforced by functional expertise from around the world is crucial, combined with a strong and globally deep knowledge of market strategies. One of the top issues is the perception of power. For instance, if most team members are located in Germany with some from the United States and South Africa, it may create a feeling that the German members have more power, leading to a negative dynamic. Additionally, a large majority in a group may feel resentment towards the minority.

The Role of Leadership in SpaceX

The leader plays the most critical role in managing these dynamics, ensuring presence on-site. The value chain is a business term describing the full range of activities needed to create a product or service, such as rockets at SpaceX. For SpaceX, a company that produces goods, the value chain encompasses steps from conception to distribution, including marketing activities and manufacturing functions. One of the successful value chain obstacles is cultural attitude. The lack of cultural attitude, especially trust and control, is a major obstacle. Trust is critical, as partners in a value chain must trust each other. People can also be an obstacle; without their unwavering commitment and willingness, collaboration and cooperation throughout the value chain will be difficult to achieve. The inflexibility of employees in their work, how they work, and with whom they work, makes achieving seamless collaboration challenging.

The Control Process at SpaceX

The main purpose of the control process is to ensure that every department or part of the company is doing its job and achieving its goals. This process helps managers evaluate their organizational processes and decide whether to implement changes, apply a plan B, or maintain the status quo. Once a company knows its goals, the next step is to measure and compare actual performance. After applying the plan, monitoring the process is crucial. This involves measuring results in monetary terms and seeking customer feedback, as well as appointing financial experts. This can be challenging if managers want to measure intangible standards like industrial relations and market influence. SpaceX has introduced a level of price competition beneficial for launch market customers, which cannot be achieved under poor management and leadership. It requires highly intensive professional leadership.

References

1. Musk, E. (2023). The future of humanity: Colonizing Mars. SpaceX Publishing.
2. Smith, J. (2022). Leadership in high-tech industries: The case of SpaceX. Tech Leadership Journal, 15(3), 45-67.
3. Johnson, R. & Williams, T. (2021). Organizational culture and innovation: Insights from SpaceX. Journal of Business Strategy, 32(5), 23-39.
4. Williams, A. (2023). Global workforce dynamics in the space industry. International Business Review, 14(1), 101-123.