Management Responses to HIV/AIDS in the Mining Industry in Zimbabwe

Abstract

This study examines factors affecting management responses to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) problem in the mining industry in Zimbabwe. It also provides a detailed description about the extent of HIV/AIDS in the mines. Labour in the closed community of mines has been greatly susceptible to HIV infection. The study seeks to explain the reactions of management to this threat to human capital, especially in relation to sources of variation in the adoption of response mechanisms in the mining sites. The response mechanisms (work organisation methods) are grouped into three categories: "utilising existing miners", "hiring extra miners", and "capital investment". The analysis, based on data collected by the use of a blend of quantitative and qualitative research methods, entailed a survey and discussions with site managers and human resource managers in the major mines in Zimbabwe and in-depth interviews with government and non-government officials with a stake in the mining industry. The results demonstrate that methods entailing the utilisation of existing miners were the most favored response mechanisms. The analysis demonstrates that a number of site characteristics - including the ownership structure, market orientation, capital intensity and method of mineral extraction are indeed related to the response mechanisms selected by mines. The study also highlights the limited effect on the adoption of work organization methods that certain site characteristics have. Of the twenty-one hypotheses tested in this study ten received confirmation, although at varying magnitudes. With some degree of support from interview data, the quantitative results also suggest that there were other factors at play - for example, the wider economic climate - apart from the site characteristics investigated that influence the choice of whether or not to adopt certain response mechanisms in the mining sites. The study concludes with the observation that site characteristics exerted varying degrees of influence on the selection of response mechanisms in the sites and in addition were not always the determining factor in their choice. Moreover, in general, the demand for site- and task-specific skills and tacit knowledge in the sites - also given the cost of recruitment and training - has made it imperative for sites to first and foremost adopt methods that entail the utilisation of existing miners as a response mechanism before considering other options.