Diversity and HIV Awareness

A study was conducted to determine if there would be positive attitudes towards a diversity management program in the Asian hospitality industry.  In the Asian countries such as Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has been on the increase in those countries populations.  More HIV-infected people are joining, and are already part of the workforce.  Asian hospitality managers (AHM’s) are experiencing increased numbers of HIV-infected employees in the Asian hospitality industry because of rapid growth in that particular industry recently. 

                I thought this was a very interesting study to note, as I honestly didn’t think of discrimination and diversity as it relates to those who are infected with HIV.  This is definitely worth mentioning here in this blog as it is very likely many of us could be faced with these types of issues in our careers as well.

                The reason that this study focused on Asian hospitality managers was because in Thailand, for example, the hotel managers “can lawfully find out the HIV stati of their employees when they practice the Buddhist doctrine of karma by donating blood to replenish the national blood bank”  (Yap, 2011).    This can obviously create tension and anxiety in the workplace.

                This article notes that the idea and concept of diversity management came from the United States as our country is considered a “melting-pot”.  It’s a great compliment to see that this idea may be useful in other countries as well.

                Questionnaires were given to 32 AHM’s, and 12 received phone screenings.  The questionnaire consisted of whether the participant agreed or disagreed with the benefits of the Diversity Management concepts and ideas.  A Likert Scale was used along with descriptive statistics.

                Overall, the majority of participants agreed that their perception of a diversity management program were positive.  A few felt there was not a need as their environment was not really diverse enough.  Almost all the AHM’s did feel certain that some type of management support would be needed to facilitate, train, and organize such a program.  About 75% of the managers also felt good about a Diversity program in that it would help educated the employees on diversity and create a better working environment.  The results did show that they felt there could be very positive benefits for such a program. 

 

                So, in addition to the many diverse backgrounds, “which may be visible or invisible, include sexual orientation, race, gender, age, culture, religion ethnicity, immigration status, social class, political association, marital status, parental status, disability, personality, work style, profiles, nationality, departmental affiliations, ex-offenders and physical characteristics (Cooke & Saini, 2010; Strachan, Burgess, & Sullivan, 2004), people infected with HIV can also be included in the long list that describes diversity.

                To conclude, it is a great first step to at least be aware of diversity in any environment.  The outcome of this study showed that there can be a very positive effect.  When people take the time to realize that diversity can create tension or anxiety, efforts should be made to find a way to deal with those issues in a positive manner.

Yap, M. H., &Ineson, E. M. (2012). Diversity management: The treatment of HIV-positive employees.

                AIDS Care: Psychological and Socio-medical Aspects of AIDS/HIV, 24, 11th ser., 1349-1358.