Organization Development and Total Stress Management

If organization development is to achieve the objective of improving organizational effectiveness, it is essential that companies adopt a proactive and preventive approach to stress management. Such an approach would reduce the costs of stress which result directly from organization development and, additionally, the costs of previously existing stress factors such as high labour turnover, absenteeism and reduced productivity. A practical all‐encompassing model is presented which brings the organization towards a philosophy of “total stress management” (TSM). Organizations which develop this philosophy, through the adoption of the practical action model, will be able to reduce the cost of stress substantially.