The Crisis Manager ─ Facing Disasters, Conflicts, and Failures

This case-based resource for managers in all kinds of organizations offers a typology of crises and provides background on management during any type of crisis, from natural disasters to labor disputes, violence, and internal scandals. The first part of the book (reorganized for this edition) explains concepts of risk management, crisis communication, and image restoration. The next three sections are devoted to crises of the physical and human environments and crises of management failure. Response strategies are drawn from disciplines including risk assessment, social psychology, and general management. The final section of the book shows how crisis management contributes to the practice of everyday management. This second edition looks at the role of social media in crisis management and contains new case studies of businesses, schools, religious organizations, and banks. It also includes new references to the management literature on crises and the emerging field of behavioral economics. While the book is primarily for managers, certain material is of interest to those in public relations, bioengineering, and accounting. Lerbinger is affiliated with Boston University. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Otto Lerbinger is Professor Emeritus at Boston University, specializing in corporate public affairs and applying the social sciences to management and communication. He holds a PhD in Economics and Social Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.