Apollo Program and Project Management

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Analysis
Discussion
Major goals
Stakeholders involved
Management
Resource Needs and Actual Benefits
Conclusion
Reference List

Introduction

The Apollo program can still be seen as one of the most ambitious and costly programs of the US government. The program’s overall cost was over 20 billion dollars that was spent within a decade (Gisler & Sornette 2009). Many people argue that its negative effects undermine the positive impact. However, many researchers agree that he program had various positive outcomes for the country as well as the entire humanity.

Gisler and Sornette (2009) call this project as a “bubble” which had a significant and favourable effect on the development of technology as well as the human society. The researchers stress that a bubble is a project characterised by excessive resources and is associated with exaggerated expectations.

Some bubbles may lead to diverse negative effects such as bankruptcy of companies. Nonetheless, some bubbles (and the Apollo Program is one of them) play an important role “in reducing collective risk aversion that occur during the innovation and discovery processes” (Gisler & Sornette 2009, p. 56).

The researchers emphasise that such bubbles enable people to work out strategies and technologies that can be used to carry out a variety of projects. It is possible to evaluate the program in terms of a number of aspects to understand whether the Apollo Program was successful or unnecessary.

Analysis

The program was established in 1960 and it terminated in 1973. It was funded by the US government, and it cost more than 20 billion US dollars (Morris 2013). Apollo Program is regarded as “NASA’s first formal system of project management” (Seymour & Hussein 2014, p. 236). The program involved thorough planning, organising and managing various stages and processes.

It had all major attributes of a project with definite aims, timeline and budget (Nicholas & Steyn 2008). It is noteworthy that NASA had a number of similar (though significantly smaller) projects that played quite an important role in the Apollo Program as scientists and researchers could take into account various pitfalls that could arise (Shenhar & Dvir 2013).

By and large, the program involved various stages that were comprehensive, well-thought and properly managed. More so, it is possible to regard the program as successful as it achieved its major goal to land a man on the Moon.

Discussion

At the same time, it is still necessary to remember that the program had quite a high cost including humans’ lives, unprecedented financial investment, time, environmental impact and so on. It is important to consider these aspects when evaluating the effectiveness of the Apollo Program.

Major goals

As has been mentioned above, one of the major goals of the project was to land a man on the Moon and bring this man safely back. Clearly, this goal was achieved successfully as the program resulted in six manned landings on the Moon (Nicholas & Steyn 2008). Obviously, there were other goals. For instance, technological development was one of the core aims of the program.

American scientists as well as the entire society were eager to advance space industry and explore the outer space as well as other planets in the Solar system. It is possible to state that this goal was also achieved, as American scientists and engineers achieved a lot in the sphere of technology and space exploration. This correlates with the idea of beneficial power of bubbles suggested by Gisler and Sornette (2009).

Space technologies have acquired various implications in different spheres of human life (including but not limited to aviation, consumer products and so on). More importantly, the program has become one of the first examples of project management strategies applied on such a significant scale. Clearly, many of these strategies and methods have been utilised by project managers in various spheres.

Apart from that, there were certain political goals. President Kennedy set quite a specific goal to land a man on the Moon within a decade. This directive was dictated by the political realm as it was the period of the Cold War (Morris 2013). The space race forced the US government to invest significant funds to space exploration, as the capitalist ideology could not lose the race to the communist doctrine.

Therefore, the political goal was also achieved, as the USSR never managed to land people on the Moon and Americans were very proud of their achievements. The program also contributed greatly to the establishment of the image of the USA as a superpower.

Stakeholders involved

To evaluate the effectiveness of the program, it is also important to consider stakeholders’ expectations and their satisfaction. One of the stakeholders was the NASA that can be regarded as the project manager of the Apollo Program. As any other project manager, the NASA was given the task to achieve the goal set by the President.

The project manager employed quite effective strategies and methods to carry out the project. First, the organization developed a plan that included the timeline, budget, major process and so on (Dinsmore, PC & Cabanis-Brewin 2011). This plan was the basis of the coming project. It is possible to note that the organisation’s expectations were met at a certain stage.

The major goal of the project was achieved. Nonetheless, the NASA developed a number of projects concerning exploration of the Moon, but the lack of financing resulted in quite an abrupt end of the Apollo Program. Thus, some expectations were not met. Another stakeholder is the American society. Americans were waiting for great victories and landing on the Moon was one of them.

People expected that the US astronauts would go to the Moon and back, which could prove the might of democracy and their way of life. The expectations were completely met. The vast majority of people paid little attention to the costs as the outcome was more important for them. Hence, it is possible to note that the project was quite successful within the terrain of stakeholders’ expectations.

Management

Clearly, any evaluation should include assessment of management. As has been mentioned above, this was one of the first examples of project management on such a scale (such budget, such goals). Of course, there were numerous errors. Some of these mistakes led to people’s deaths or near-death situations. For instance, during the launch of Apollo 1, the spaceship exploded and three astronauts died (Nicholas & Steyn 2008).

Another serious emergency occurred during the mission Apollo 13 when scientists and engineers developed certain changes to existing configurations, but those were not taken into account and the mission almost resulted in the death of three astronaut (Nicholas & Steyn 2008). Clearly, such oversights never took place later. At the same time, the project manager paid attention to various stages and processes working out plans and following them.

Resource Needs and Actual Benefits

Finally, it is important to evaluate resources used and actual benefits to consider the successfulness of the project. As has been mentioned above, $20 billion was spent on the program. Initially, the budget of the program was approximately $20 billion. Notably, there was a plan to construct a space station and astronauts had to go to the Moon from that station, but scientists developed another approach (Morris 2013).

Still, the budget of the project was almost the same when it was completed or rather abandoned. At the same time, the benefits of the program cannot be overestimated. First, the goals set were achieved and all stakeholders were satisfied. The NASA has become one of the first project managers who, eventually, ‘taught’ others how to handle such complex programs involving a number of projects.

Besides, the US economy also benefited as the space and aviation industries were developing at a significant pace creating jobs, paying taxes. Scientists and engineers could come up with various discoveries that led to great advances in technology.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is possible to note that the Apollo Program can be seen as an effective project that had various positive outcomes. In the case of the program, it was the bubble that led to development of many industries, technology, education and so on.

Importantly, the program was one of the first examples of effective project management that enabled many business and industries develop. The American society was expecting a global project with unprecedented goals and such a project was implemented. The American society was inspired and prepared to achieve other aims.

Reference List

Dinsmore, PC & Cabanis-Brewin, J 2011, The AMA handbook of project management, AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn, New York, NY.

Gisler, M & Sornette, D 2009 ‘Exuberant innovations: the Apollo Program’, Social Science and Public Policy, vol. 46, pp. 55-68.

Morris, PWG 2013, Reconstructing project management, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, UK.

Nicholas, JM & Steyn, H 2008, Project management for business, engineering, and technology: principles and practice, Elsevier, Oxford, UK.

Seymour, T & Hussein, S 2014, ‘Individual assignments and academic dishonesty: exploring the conundrum’, International Journal of Management & Information Systems, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 233-239.

Shenhar, AJ & Dvir, D 2013, Reinventing project management: The diamond approach to successful growth and innovation, Harvard Business Press, Boston, MA.

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