When a crisis breaks out, it's not always just the organization that reacts - the news media, customers, employees, trade associations, politicians, activist groups, and PR experts may also respond.

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.

It provides:

• An in-depth overview of the five key dimensions of organizational crises, crisis management and crisis communication


• A comprehensive introduction to the theory of the Rhetorical Arena and the multivocal approach to crisis communication, including some of the most important voices inside the arena


• A series of important international case studies and case examples in each chapter.

General Introduction
PART I: KEY DIMENSIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CRISES, CRISIS MANAGEMENT AND CRISIS COMMUNICATION
Chapter 1: Living in a Crisis Society
Chapter 2: What Is a Crisis? Definitions and Typologies
Chapter 3: Crisis Management (I) General Perspectives: From Anticipation to Resilience
Chapter 4: Crisis Management (II): Staged Approaches - Before, During, and After Crisis
Chapter 5: Crisis Communication (I): Rhetorical and Text-oriented Approaches
Chapter 6. Crisis Communication (II): Strategic and Context-oriented Approaches
Chapter 7: Crisis Communication Across Cultures
PART II: INSIDE THE RHETORICAL ARENA
Chapter 8: The Rhetorical Arena: A New Theoretical Framework
Chapter 9: Consumers and Citizens: Emotions and Social Media
Chapter 10: News Media: Mediatization and Crisis Journalism
Chapter 11: Intermediaries: Trade Associations
Chapter 12: Managers and Employees: Inside the Organization
Epilogue: The Future of Organizational Crisis Communication: Agendas for Research, Education, and Practice

Finn Frandsen (mag. art., Aarhus University) is Professor Emeritus at the Department of Business Communication, Aarhus School of Business and Social Sciences (Aarhus BSS), Aarhus University (Denmark).  His research interests include crisis management and crisis communication, environmental communication, public communication, stakeholder theory, and the institutionalization of strategic communication in private and public organizations. Together with Winni Johansen, he is the originator of Rhetorical Arena Theory and the multivocal approach to crisis communication.

His research has been published in international journals, handbooks and encyclopedias, such as  Corporate Communications: An International Journal, International Journal of Strategic Communication, Management Communication Quarterly, Public Relations Inquiry, Public Relations Review, Scandinavian Journal of Public Management and The Handbook of Crisis Communication, Encyclopedia of Public Relations, The Routledge Handbook of Strategic Communication, and Handbook of International Crisis Communication Research.

He is regional editor (Europe) of Corporate Communications: An International Journal and member of the advisory board of the European Communication Monitor. He has served as visiting professor at highly ranked universities and business schools in Norway, Sweden, Finland, France, Italy and Senegal. He has also consulted with organizations in the private and public sector.