Evaluating Debenhams Store Closure Project Using PMBOK Framework

This report provides a critical evaluation of the Debenhams store closure project, focusing on the application of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) framework. The report examines the project's initiation, planning, execution, controlling, and closing phases, highlighting how PMBOK principles can be applied to manage the closure of 22 stores and mitigate the risk to 1,200 jobs. It discusses the advantages of using PMBOK, such as standardizing practices and facilitating risk management, while also acknowledging potential issues, including stakeholder influence and the project's treatment as a single entity. The analysis concludes that while PMBOK offers valuable tools for project management, its effectiveness depends on careful consideration of project-specific challenges and the involvement of key stakeholders.

Running head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT METHODOLOGIES
Project Management Methodologies
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Application of PMBOK to the Debenhams Project:........................................................................2
Advantages of using PMBOK:........................................................................................................4
Anticipated Issues/risks from PMBOK:..........................................................................................4
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................5
References:......................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction:
An organization may need to take various of decisions while they are operational in a
market. These decisions mainly depends on the nature of the market (Chisholm 2017). While
organization takes this type of decisions they take assess various of aspects of the market. Also,
it is not assured that the taken decision by the organizations is always positive for both of the
market and the organization. In many of the cases the organizations may need to take a negative
decision for their fulfilling their organization goals.
In this aspect one of the prior example of this type of negative decision taking is the store
closure project of Debenhams. Currently Debenhams has initiated a project to close their 22
stores which will be putting 1200 jobs at the risk (Wood 2019). It has been also announced that
closing 22 stores is not the final closure as there can be more closure in the future.
In this report a critical evaluation will be performed regarding the initiated project of
Debenhams store closure. In this aspect PMBOK of the project will be used for execution of the
project. Importance of PMBOK in this project will be discussed in the further section.
Application of PMBOK to the Debenhams Project:
In the current project, Debenhams has initiated to close their 22 stores and for this reason
total 1200 jobs at the risk in the current moment. As per Debenhams the main reason behind the
closure of the stores is the UK high street issues. As the Debenhams is wanting to build the
business to proper they needs to restructure the portfolio of the stores and this is the main reason
behind implementing the closure project of the stores. In this case, project management practices
of PMBOK will be utilized so that the project of Debenhams can be completed successfully.
The PMBOK is a well-structured analytical outline of some abstract type of topic (Cha,
Newman and Winch 2018). The PMBOK is very much useful for managing of the projects and
for this reason PMBOK is used for the completion of Debenhams store closure project. In this
case the project of Debenhams is having total five phases which are the initiating, planning,
execution, controlling and closing. By using the PMBOK all of these steps of Debenhams project
can be explained.

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Here, initiation of the project is defining the organizational vision for this project
(Russell, Pferdehirt and Nelson 2018). In this aspect by using the PMBOK in this project it can
be clearly defined that why the project of store closure has been initiated by Debenhams and it
will be also describing what the problems it will be solving. In a shorter way by using the
PMBOK in the planning phase of the Debenhams project they can define it clearly that what they
were thinking during creating the project.
The second phase and one of the important phase of this project is the planning phase. In
this phase it will be designed that how those 22 stores will be closed in a proper manner. In this
phase also, of the Debenhams project the PMBOK can be utilized. As per the PMBOK in this
step a document is created which is known as project management plan (Kerzner 2017).
Following the PMBOK, this document is very much important for completing the store closure
project of Debenhams as it will provide overall plan for the project and will also cover how the
overall project will managed, controlled and will be executed. As per the PMBOK, the document
of project planning must have some important information which includes scope statement, work
breakdown structure, schedule of the project and budget of the project (Sanchez and Haas 2018).
By assessing all of these aspects of the project, the project can be competed easily.
The next phase of the Debenhams store closing project is executing phase and in this
phase steps will be taken to close the identified 22 stores of Debenhams. While PMBOK is used
in this phase of this project. Following the PMBOK there are several of project management
fundamentals which can be used for this project (Tonchia 2018). For this project there are four
type of fundamentals which can be used for this project. The four fundamentals of this project
are the performing quality assurance, managing the project team for the store closure,
communication management and management of stakeholder engagements. In this way by
following the PMBOK this project can be executed successfully.
Controlling is the next phase of this store closing project by Debenhams. Controlling is
very much important so that it can be ensured that the project always remains in the right track of
execution. PMBOK can be also utilized in this phase and following the PMBOK there are five
types of fundamentals which can be utilized in this project. The five fundamentals which are
applicable for this project are the control schedule, execution of quality controls, scope
validation, communication control and the procurement control.

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Proper closing of any type of project is very much important which is also same for this
project of store closing of Debenhams (Meredith, Mantel Jr and Shafer 2017). As per the
PMBOK this important steps which needs to be performed in this phase are the formal closure of
all the project documents, obligation release of external contractors, consultants and the suppliers
and proper communication also need to be made regarding completion of the project in which
the identified 22 stores of Debenhams will be closed.
Advantages of using PMBOK:
For this store closing project of Debenhams PMBOK has been chosen as there are
several of advantages of choosing PMBOK for this project. The main advantage of the PMBOK
for this project is that it will be allowing Debenhams to standardize the practices across various
of departments which is quite important. In this case there are several risks which are associated
with this project. The PMBOK can also help in this case by assisting how to undertake the risk
management procedure. In this way chances of failure of the project can be reduced easily
(Huang 2017). Another advantage of the PMBOK is that project managers customize their
processes of project management. In this way the project manager can easily produce the best fit
project management process for this project. This is one of the major advantages of using the
PMBOK in this project. For this project of store closing, a comprehensive type of approach is
required so that this project complete successfully. Here PMBOK can provide a comprehensive
type of approach towards this project (Karaman and Kurt 2015). It has been also assessed that to
complete this project in a proper fashion it must be completed in an iterative type of way.
Iterative type of way is very much important for any type of operation closing processes. The
PMBOK also supports iterative type of approach and it is another advantage factor of using
PMBOK for this project.
Anticipated Issues/risks from PMBOK:
It is not necessary that the PMBOK will always produce good outcome for a project. The
PMBOK also have some of the issues for this type projects and due to this reason there are some
risks from using the PMBOK for this project (Perrin 2018). In this context it has been identified
that there are two big risks of using PMBOK for this store closing project of Debenhams. If the
PMBOK is utilized for this project then the project governance will be based around the
utilization of stakeholders of the project and the project sponsor. For this project there is no

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project sponsor thus it totally goes to the stakeholder of the project. In this type of cases the
stakeholders can create disturbance in the project governance and due to this factor there is huge
risk for the project while using the PMBOK. Also, if the PMBOK is utilized for this project then
PMBOK will consider the project as a single entity (Karaman and Kurt 2015). Though it will not
be a major risk for the project still it can create issues in the execution of the project which is
another drawback of using the PMBOK for this project. Thus these are the main risks and issues
which can occur in the Debenhams store closing project due to utilization of PMBOK.
Conclusion:
From the above discussion it can be concluded that PMBOK is one of the important
project management processes for successful completion of various types of projects. In this
report the store closing project of Debenhams has been considered and the main reason behind
closing those stores has been discussed. For successful closure of all of the identified stores
following of a proper type of project management process is very much crucial and in this case
PMBOK has been selected for this project. To describe the PMBOK in the context of store
closing project of Debenhams first of all important application of PMBOK to this project has
been elaborated. In the following section of this report main advantages of using the PMBOK for
this project has been elaborated. With the advantages, important risks and issues which can occur
due to use of PMBOK for this project has been briefly discussed in this report.

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References:
Cha, J., Newman, M. and Winch, G., 2018. Revisiting the project management knowledge
framework: Rebalancing the framework to include transformation projects. International
Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 11(4), pp.1026-1043.
Chisholm, R., 2017. Interorganizational decision making. Routledge.
Huang, G., 2017. Effects of Organizational Project Management Maturity onCompetitive
Advantages: A Quantitative Descriptive Study (Doctoral dissertation, University of Phoenix).
Karaman, E. and Kurt, M., 2015. Comparison of project management methodologies: prince 2
versus PMBOK for it projects. Int. Journal of Applied Sciences and Engineering Research, 4(4).
Karaman, E. and Kurt, M., 2015. Comparison of project management methodologies: prince 2
versus PMBOK for it projects. Int. Journal of Applied Sciences and Engineering Research, 4(4).
Kerzner, H., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and
controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Meredith, J.R., Mantel Jr, S.J. and Shafer, S.M., 2017. Project management: a managerial
approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Perrin, J.M., 2018. The Best-Laid Plans of Mice and Men often go Awry: The Disadvantages of
Project Management. In Project management in the library workplace (pp. 71-88). Emerald
Publishing Limited.
Russell, J., Pferdehirt, W. and Nelson, J., 2018. Project Initiation, Scope, and
Structure. Technical Project Management in Living and Geometric Order.
Sanchez, B. and Haas, C., 2018. Capital project planning for a circular economy. Construction
Management and Economics, 36(6), pp.303-312.
Tonchia, S., 2018. Project Execution. In Industrial Project Management (pp. 241-267). Springer,
Berlin, Heidelberg.
Wood, Z., 2019. Debenhams to close 22 stores: full list. [online] the Guardian. Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/apr/26/debenhams-to-close-22-stores-full-list