Preface by W Timothy Coombs, University of Central Florida / General Introduction / Part I: Dimensions of Organizational Crises, Crisis Management and Crisis Communication / Living in a Crisis Society / What Is a Crisis? Definitions and Typologies / Crisis Management / Crisis Communication / The (Inter)cultural Dimension of Organizational Crises / Part II: Inside the Rhetorical Arena / The Rhetorical Arena: A New Theoretical Framework / Voices in the Arena: The News Media / Voices in the Arena: Customers and Citizens / Voices In the Arena: Experts, Politicians and NGOs / Voices in the Arena: Managers and Employees / Voices in the Arena: The Organization in Crisis / Epilogue: The Future of Organizational Crisis Communication / References

This book offers a new and original perspective on crisis communication based on the theory of the Rhetorical Arena and the so-called multivocal approach. According to this approach, we gain a more dynamic and complex understanding of organizational crises if we focus not only on the crisis communication produced by the organization in crisis but also take into account the many other voices who start communicating when a crisis breaks out (e.g., the news media, customers, employees, trade associations, politicians, activist groups, and PR experts).