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Crisis Management
Leading in the New Strategy Landscape

Second Edition


March 2013 | 384 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc

Offering a strategic orientation to crisis management, this fully updated edition of Crandall, Parnell, and Spillan's Crisis Management helps readers understand the importance of planning for crises within the wider framework of an organization's regular strategic management process. This strikingly engaging and easy-to-follow text focuses on a four-stage crisis management framework: 1) Landscape Survey: identifying potential crisis vulnerabilities, 2) Strategic Planning: organizing the crisis management team and writing the plan, 3) Crisis Management: addressing the crisis when it occurs, and 4) Organizational Learning: applying lessons from crises so they will be prevented or mitigated in the future.

The second edition emphasizes the importance of managing both the internal landscape (those stakeholders within the organization, such as the employees, owners, and management) and the external landscape (those stakeholders outside of the organization, such as the media, customers, suppliers, general public, government agencies, and special interest groups).


 
Preface
 
1. A Framework for Crisis Management
 
2. The Crisis Management Landscape
 
3. Sources of Organizational Crises
 
4. A Strategic Approach to Crisis Management
 
5. Forming the Crisis Management Team and Writing the Plan
 
6. Organizational Strategy and Crises
 
7. Crisis Management: Taking Action When Disaster Hits
 
8. Crisis Communication
 
9. The Importance of Organizational Learning
 
10. The Underlying Role of Ethics in Crisis Management
 
11. Emerging Trends in Crisis Management
 
Appendix. Sample Outline of Items to Include in the Crisis Management Plan
 
Index
 
About the Authors

“I really like [Crisis Management]. It is very readable and interesting. It is able to explain things clearly without being too basic for the more experienced reader…There is more 'content' and more different approaches and perspectives than in other crisis management books. Other books seem repetitive, dry and one-note by comparison.”

Stephen C. Betts
William Paterson University

“I LOVE the basic premise: that crisis management should be integrated with strategic management. That beautifully underlies the authors' preferred framework, which in turn drives the text's organization and content. Too often, courses and texts are developed in silos, with strategic management being separated from organization theory and organization behavior and so on…This text takes an interdisciplinary approach to a set of critical problems that managers must consider and resolve in order to protect the interests of their employees, organizations, and communities.”

Lucy A. Arendt
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

“I think the level of writing and presentation is excellent.”

Karen M. Leonard
Indiana University, Purdue University Fort Wayne

“The book was easy for [my students] to read and understand. It also provided good mini cases…The exercises and mini cases were very useful. However, the overall readability for students is what I found impressive and why I chose this book over others in the market.”

Tami Moser
Southwestern Oklahoma State University

“Overall, I found the Crandall, Parnell and Spillan book appropriate in scope (not overly broad and general, but also not clearly narrow and specific). They focused in on essential information for an introductory book on crisis management, and the reader should be well informed just by reading this book. The writing style was straightforward, concise and business-like, with a professional conversational tone. I liked it, and found it easy to read this book and to stay engaged with the material. I think students will find it interesting, comprehensible, and appealing to read.”

Marcia J. Kurzynski Lock Haven
University of Pennsylvania

“This book offers a logical and theoretical framework for crisis management, depicted in a visual model that is explained with real-world examples. The book expertly blends theory with real-world application in a manner that simply makes sense. Such an approach is extremely valuable when planning for crises as well as teaching how to plan for crises...The chapters then have a very real-world approach so the amount of theory is perfect!”

Dana Moore Gray
Rogers State University

“Excellent! That's why I have selected it as my text. The incorporation of strategy emphasizes the importance of crisis planning. It covers most of what I have traditionally emphasized in my courses. I particularly like its structure, breaking the process into stages and internal and external landscape. The text also covers the entire process of crisis management from sources and early warning to recovery...It covers the sequential unfolding of crises and as such, matches the way I teach and consult on CM. Very nicely done!”

David X. Swenson
The College of St. Scholastica, Duluth

Crisis Management. Leading in the New Strategy Landscape is a textbook oriented mainly to management and communication practitioners. It is divided into eleven chapters, systematized according with a major framework outlined in chapter one. All the chapters present opening cases to illustrate the theoretical contents and end with summary, questions for discussion and exercises. The examples seed along all the chapters illustrate the theoretical content balancing the information with practical cases. As a textbook for students, it may lack densification (particularly for European academia) yet it is suitable for practitioners who want to have a clearer picture of processes and items to help them to take timely decisions.

Miss Sonia Pedro Sebastiao
Communication Sciences, University of Lisbon
September 21, 2015

Great models throughout text and ample case studies.

Mrs Crystal Money
Siegel Institute for Leadership, Ethics and Character, Kennesaw State University
March 17, 2015

Plan to adopt Ongoing Crisis Communication by Coombs. What instructor resources come with this text?

Dr Todd Allen
English Communication Dept, Grove City College
October 29, 2014
Key features

NEW TO THIS EDITION

  • New and very recent case studies appear at the beginning and end of each chapter to give readers a look at real world crisis events and how they were managed, including The BP oil spill crisis and The Great Boston Molasses Flood.
  • New coverage of how social media affects a crisis, with up-to-date examples, addresses the influence of social media on crisis events and how an organization's management team can use social media in its own response.
  • Updated crisis event examples have been added to every chapter, including the murder/suicide of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) wrestler Chris Benoit and his family.
  • An updated crises management plan template gives readers a practical tool for managing crisis events.

KEY FEATURES

  • A focus on the importance of a strategic approach to crisis management demonstrates that planning for crises must occur within the wider frame of the organization's regular strategic management process.
  • Coverage of new trends in crisis management showcases the latest on how crisis management plans and teams will look in the future.
  • A complete chapter on business ethics shows readers how ethical issues with management can contribute to crises and what can be done to avoid future ethics-related crises.
  • A chapter on organizational learning covers what needs to be addressed after the crisis is over and why it is important NOT to return to business as usual.
  • In-text learning aids include discussion questions and references with each case, end-of-chapter class exercises, and an outline of the key components of a crisis management plan in the Appendix.