Effects of Technology on the Hr Function Essay Example for Free

Effects of Technology on the Hr Function Essay Critically analyse the ways in which the increasing application of technology at work have an effect upon the HR function. The use of technology within HRM has grown considerably within recent years with the majority of large organisations now using technology of some form within their HR function (CIPD, 2005). As HR becomes increasingly reliant on technology it is important to assess its effect upon the HR function. Firstly, consideration will be given to definition of terms along with a description of the uses of technology within the HR function. Next the change in the structure of the HR profession that has developed alongside the emerging and growing use of technology will be addressed. The goals of the use of technology which have been afforded a significant amount of attention within the literature will then be outlined along with consideration of the realisation of these goals. In addition, the effect of shared service centres, which make significant use of technology, upon the role of HR practitioners will be addressed in conjunction with the views of HR practitioners themselves. Whilst little attention has been given to the situating of the use of technology in HR within a wider sociological perspective in the academic literature, an attempt will be made to consider the effect of technology upon HR within such a debate. Finally, conclusions will be drawn as to the impact of the use of technology upon the HR function. It is firstly important to consider what is meant by the use of technology within the HR function. The term e-HRM is frequently used to refer to the use of technology within the HR function. The use of e-HRM varies enormously within organisations and may be used for different purposes (Parry et al. 2007). The term Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is also used to refer to any system that helps an organisation to â€Å"acquire, store, manipulate, analyse, retrieve and distribute information about an organisation’s human resources† (Tannenbaum, 1990, p.28). However, the use of technology within HR is broader than the use of HRIS and may encompass manager and employee self-service, the use of staff intranets and e-enabled processes such and recruitment and performance management amongst others (Reilly, 2012). It is acknowledged that some current research focuses on the more recent developments in web-based technology, collectively referred to as social media technologies or Web 2.0 (see Reddington, 2012). However, the use of Web 2.0 is outwith the focus of this discussion. HRIS was originally used for standardising the gathering of information about and for employees (Kovach et al. 2002). However, the use of HRIS has subsequently developed and is now used more broadly for purposes such as recruitment and selection, learning and development, administration of flexible benefits and performance appraisal (Grensing-Pophal, 2001) or to manage HR and employee information across the whole employment cycle (Parry et al. 2007). Technology has also been increasingly associated with supporting integrated call centres, shared service centres and the use of manager and employee self-service (CIPD, 2007). There is a great emphasis in the literature about the potential goals of e-HRM (Marler, 2009; Ruel, Bondarouk and Looise, 2004). However, there has been less emphasis on whether these goals have been realised in reality (Parry and Tyson, 2011; Strohmeier, 2007). Alongside the development and increasing use of technology is the development and changing role of the HR function itself. Traditionally the HR function has been seen as being a largely administrative function, focussed on administrative processes such as the maintenance of employee and payroll records (CIPD, 2007). It would appear that in its search for identity and the resulting proposed need for transformation of the function (Ulrich, 1997), HR has made use of technology to attempt to facilitate this transformation (Shirvastava and Shaw, 2003). Ulrich (1997) has argued that HRM should become a strategic business partner, in addition to performing roles as administrative expert, change agent and employee champion. It has been suggested that the use of technology within the HR function may create the opportunity for HR to become more strategic by freeing up time through the automation of many administrative tasks (Parry et al. 2007). The provision of accurate and detailed information available through the use of HRIS could also enable HR practitioners to engage in a more strategic role as such data could be used to inform managerial decisions. The move to new service delivery models of HR and the development of technology can be seen as interdependent as without increasingly sophisticated technology the various elements of HR service delivery may not be as effective (Reddington, 2012). Drivers for introduction of technology can be described as being operational, relational or transformational (Kettley and O’ Reilly, 2003; Snell, Stueber and Lepak, 2002) Operational goals can be described as having a focus on reducing the administrative burden of HR and cost effectiveness, whilst enhancing the accuracy of data; relational goals relate to improving services for internal customers due to reported low levels of satisfaction with the HR function (Kyprianou, 2008) and transformational goals address the strategic aims of the business (Lepak and Snell, 1998; Martin et al. 2008). These drivers of e-HRM can be seen as addressing either transactional or transformational goals (Martin et al. 2008). Transactional goals relate to operational efficiencies or improved service delivery. There is talk of liberating HR through technology (Shirvastava and Shaw 2003) although this strong statement is qualified by the requirement that it informates as opposed to automates HR proc esses. The distinction between automating and informating is made by Zuboff (1988) whereby automating relates to increasing efficiency through computerising work processes and procedures with decreasing dependence on human skills. In contrast, informating refers to increasing effectiveness through acquiring information by using information technology and using that information to create new knowledge. Automating could be seen as relating to addressing operational goals whereas informating could potentially address the relational and transformational goals through provision of information to inform decisions and strategy. Despite the attention to the promise of technology in transforming the HR function, much less attention has been given to the impact of technology on the HR function and whether or not the highly prized strategic orientation of HR has been achieved (Lepak and Snell, 1998, Shrivastava and Shaw, 2003). Studies that relate to whether e-HRM is achieving its operational goals provide some mixed results (Strohmeier, 2007). In practice it would appear that HRIS is having a slightly better (but not statistically significant) impact in areas of information processing, for example improving the speed that information is available and the quality of the information available than in economic terms, such as reducing headcount, lowering operational costs and improving productivity and profitability (CIPD, 2005). However, within this survey, in a third of cases the reduction in administrative burden was less than was to be expected. Stronger support for the operational impact of e-HRM comes from analysis of 10 case studies by Parry et al. (2007) which showed that technology can lead to faster and more efficient processes, greater accuracy and consistency as well as a reduction in costs. A number of other studies also provide some evidence of the impact of technology on operational efficiency ( Marler, 2009; Ruel, Bondarouk and Looise, 2004; Ruta, 2005). However, it may be that some caution needs to be exercised in drawing conclusions on the impact of e-HRM in this area as it may be that the efficiencies achieved within the HR function are simply moved elsewhere within the organisation as the responsibility for some tasks is moved from HR to line managers or employees (Ruel, Bondarouk and Looise, 2004). There is some positive evidence for the relational impact of e-HRM, notably improvements in HR service delivery achieved through the increased accuracy of data or by simplification of processes (Gardener, Lepak and Bartol, 2003). However, the relational impact of e-HRM appears to have been granted little attention in the literature (Strohmeir, 2007). Whether technology has led to a transformational impact on the HR function appears even less clear than the impact it has had on transactional processes. Despite the identification by many organisations of transformational drivers being important in the adoption of e-HR (Watson Wyatt, 2002; Yeung and Brockbank, 1995) it would seem that the issue of whether e-HRM supports a transformation of the HR function into a strategic business partner is only â€Å"parenthetically addressed† (Strohmeir, 2007, p.28). Indeed, Bondarouk and Ruel (2009, p.508) state â€Å"organisations are definitely silent about whether their HR departments become more strategic with e-HRM†. Where evidence is presented it is contradictory in nature. It would seem that in some cases technology has not led to a more strategic orientation of the HR function and has been used mainly for automating operational processes (Burbach and Dundon, 2005; Dery, Grant and Wiblen, 2009; Kinnie and Arthurs, 1993; Tansley et al. 2001). Indeed, Broderick and Boudreau (1992) found that most organisations have only used technology to support a narrow range of administrativ e decisions, resulting in efficiencies in managing information but that the potential competitive advantage of technology has not been exploited. In contrast, other studies have offered some evidence that e-HRM has supported the strategic integration of HR with business strategy (Olivas-Lujan, Ramirez and Zapata-Cantu, 2007; Ruel, Bondarouk and Looise, 2004; Teo, Soon and Fedric, 2001) More recent research has provided some anecdotal evidence for a move towards a more strategic role (Parry and Tyson, 2011) although the evidence supporting the transformational impact compared with the operational and relational appeared to be the weakest. It would appear that there is far greater attention in the literature to the potential for e-HRM to have an impact in the three areas outlined above than there is accorded to the actual outcomes (Shrivastava and Shaw, 2003; Strohmeir, 2007). The reorganisation of the HR function and the introduction of shared service centres appears to have had an impact on numbers of on-site HR staff and a reduction in the number of HR staff to employees (Francis and Keegan, 2006). The operation of such shared service centres relies on technology that is characterised by formalisation, routinisation and centralisation resulting in an impact on staffing of such centres, which require specialised but generally low level HR administrators (Martin and Reddington, 2009). Research that addresses the issue of how HR practitioners have viewed the increasing use of technology appears to be limited to date. There is evidence that some practitioners may view the use of technology and an associated increase in the use of shared service centres cautiously because it has resulted in a reduction of face-to-face relationships, which is often the reason individuals cite for choosing a career in HR (Francis and Keegan, 2006). Martin and Reddington (2009) suggest that the significant role of technology within shared service centres will lead to a lowering of the status of those employed in such environments especially when compared to the status of HR business partners. It is arg ued that there is a risk of deskilling within the administrative function of HR and that staff may be confined to more routine tasks where they had previously had a wider role (Reilly, 2000). It is also suggested that within shared service centres different skills may be required and staff may be employed who have customer service skills but who do not necessarily have a background in HR as technical knowledge can be learned whereas the right attitudes may be harder to learn (Parry et al. 2007; Reilly, 2000). In addition to this, there is evidence that suggests that there a perception amongst HR practitioners of an increasing distance between those at the top and bottom of the career ladder and that people from outwith the HR function are â€Å"parachuting† into the top jobs (Francis and Keegan, 2006). This effect could possibly be explained by the requirement of new areas of expertise, such as technical, consultancy and project management skills (Parry and Tyson, 2011), which may require developing within HR practitioners and could possibly result in recruiting from outside the profession. Indeed a number of reports emphasise the skills of HR staff as a significant barrier to transformation of the HR function (see Reilly, 2012). The debate on the use of technology within HRM can also be situated within a wider sociological perspective. Whilst the sociological literature appears to focus mainly on the use of technology within manufacturing environments or of computerisation in general as opposed to within the HR function an attempt to situate the effect of technology upon HR could be made in terms of attempting to assess the effect upon the organisation of the function and the impact on the level of skills required. The attempts to understand the impact of technology upon the organisation of work have resulted in divergent views. The debate focuses mainly on two opposing views. The managerialist and essentially optimistic perspective associated with writers such as Blauner (1964) argues that the application of technology will render obsolete routine and more manual jobs and create more skilled and complex opportunities resulting in an overall effect of â€Å"upskilling†, along with organisations characterised by decentralised structures, reduction in hierarchy, increased worker autonomy and a prevalence of knowledge workers (for example, Attewell, 1992; Piore and Sabel, 1984) Such analysis suggests that in the earlier phases of industrialisation advances in technology tended to reduce skills and devalue work but that more recent technological developments have had the opposite effect. Examination of the increasing use of technology and its impact on skills levels has provided some evidence for a raising of skills levels (Daniel, 1987, Gaillie, 1991) In contrast, labour process theorists have argued that technological changes have a degrading effect on work and result in â€Å"deskilling† of the labour process and reduced worker autonomy, with a centralised, neo-Taylorist form of organisation, with separation of conception from execution (for example, Braverman, 1974; Zimbalist, 1979). The issues of the expansion of non-manual work and the apparent rising skills levels as suggested by formal skills gradings are not inconsistent with the labour process perspective (Gaillie, 1991) who argues that non-manual work has undergone a major transformation, r esulting in work that is increasingly routinized and mechanised (supported by the increase in office automation). From such a perspective non-manual workers are no longer accorded their relatively privileged position and are now accorded a similar level of skills as manual workers. Support for the process of deskilling can be found in many analyses of the effects of computerised technology (Meiksins, 1994) Analysis of the experience of employees within the call centre environment emphasises the process of deskilling (Desai, 2010) which is described by Taylor and Bain (1999, p.109) as a situation of â€Å"an assembly-line in the head†. The impacts of such call centre roles are often high turnover rates and high levels of absence (Ackroyd, Gordon-Dseagu and Fairhurst, 2006) and the effect on employees is outlined by Rose and Wright (2005, pp.156-157): â€Å"low skilled call centre jobs allied with high levels of technological and management controls do not contribute towards employee well-being and satisfaction† This account of the impact of technology resonates with the description above of shared service centres whose result has been the deskilling of the administrative function of HR and the recruitment of those who do not have a background in HR (Martin and Reddington, 2009; Reilly, 2000). However, whilst it could be argued that a labour process perspective accounts for the effects of technology on some aspects of the HR function, it does not address the effect on the function as a whole as it does not appear to account for the strategic end of the spectrum, where it seems that business partner roles are accorded status and prestige along with substantially increased salaries (Francis and Reddington, 2006). The role of business partners cannot easily be reconciled with the notion of deskilling. There has been a tendency to view the classification of either upskilling or deskilling as too simplistic and some writers have moved away from this conceptualisation of work by postulating that instead there is an increasing polarisation of the workforce in terms of skill level with at one end, highly skilled workers with high levels of autonomy and at the other end a lower skilled sector characterised by an intensification of work through deskilling and management control (Edw ards, 1979), who can be dispensed if surplus to requirements (Berger and Piore, 1981). This polarisation of the workplace appears to be a better reflection of the changing HR function with the autonomous business partner role, with the accompanying perception of a high level of skill and status at one end of the spectrum and at the opposite end, the shared service centre roles characterised by routine and deskilling. In relation to professional work, there is some argument that professionals have not been adversely affected by computerisation and continue to be accorded high status and prestige (Friedson, 1984, 1986). In contrast, it is argued that technology may have differing effects on professionals, depending on the relative status of the profession and on the status of individuals within the profession (Burris, 1998). It is argued that alongside polarisation of the workplace, there tends to be poorer career prospects for non-expert workers (Baran, 1987; Hodson, 1988) with higher level posts being filled from outwith the organisation (Hodson, 1988; Burris 1983,a,b) This issue within HR is highlighted by Reilly (2000) who suggests that there may be less opportunity for career development if lower level staff do not build the experience that they would gain in more generalist roles in traditional HR functions. As stated earlier, there also appears to be a perception that the higher status business partner roles are at least sometimes being filled not just from outwith the organisation but from outwith the HR profession (Francis and Reddington, 2006). Whilst the issue of the impact of technology upon the HR function appears to have been given little attention within research (Lepak and Snell, 1998; Shrivastava and Shaw, 2003) it would seem that what discussion there has been relates mainly to the promise of technology in transforming the HR function and facilitating a more strategic orientation. The reality of the impact of technology in achieving an impact in operational, relational and transformational areas is much less clear although evidence would suggest that the greatest impact is in achieving operational efficiencies. Alongside the development of the use of technology has been the reorganisation of the HR function. Although there has been little attempt to consider the impact of technology from a sociological perspective, it can be argued that the increasing use of technology, which has been used to support the shared service centre model may be resulting in a deskilling of an element of the HR profession and reducing career development paths for some practitioners. In addition, there appears to be a change in skills viewed as necessary within this function, with a focus on customer service skills as opposed to specialist HR knowledge. In contrast, although the evidence for a transformational impact of technology upon HR is weaker and more contradictory, there would appear to be a perception of a higher status role in the business partner, with accordingly higher remuneration, thus demonstrating a polarisation of the HR function in terms of both skills and status. However, this reorganisation of the HR function and the development of a more strategic orientation, which it is argued can be facilitated by the increasing use of technology, although being seen as having an upskilling effect on those in a more strategic role could be argued as achieving the opposite effect if the result is recruiting from outwith the profession. This could leave HR professionals in a precarious position in terms of career and skill development, which could at least in part be attributed to the effect of technology as without increasingly sophisticated technology the new models of service delivery may not be possible or at least may not be as effective. Whilst, a lack of academic attention to the actual impact of technology on the HR function requires that caution is exercised in drawing conclusions, the tendency to focus on the potential impact of technology could be followed in suggesting that the potential of technology in facilitating the move to a transformation of the HR function may be to tend towards a degradation of the HR profession, with low skilled staff employed in shared service centres and more highly skilled and valued business partners being recruited from outwith the HR profession. However, without significant further research in the area, in particular on the impact of technology and the accompanying change in service delivery models upon the career paths and development opportunities for HR practitioners, this conclusion remains just a potential. References Ackroyd, K., Gordon-Dseagu, V. and Fairhurst, P. (2006) â€Å"Well-being and call centres†, Institute of Employment Studies, Brighton [online]. Available at: http://www.employment-studies.co.uk/pdflibrary/mp69.pdf (Accessed 21st November 2012) Attewell, P. (1992) â€Å"Skill and occupational changes in U.S. manufacturing† in Technology and the future of work, P.S. Adler, New York, Oxford University Press. Baran, B. (1987) â€Å"The technological transformation of white collar work†, in Computer chips and paper clips, vol 2, H. Hartmaan, ed., Washington DC, National Academy Press. Berger, S. and Piore, M. (1981) Dualism and discontinuity in industrial societies, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Blauner, R. (1964) Alienation and freedom, Chicago, IL, University Chicago Press Bondarouk, T.V. and Ruel, H.J.M. (2009) â€Å"Electronic human resource management: challenges in the digital era†, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 20 (3), pp. 505-514. [online]. Available at: http://ezproxy.napier.ac.uk:2343/doi/pdf/10.1080/09585190802707235 (Accessed 10th November 2012) Braverman, H. (1974) Labor and Monopoly Capital, New York, Monthly Review Press Broderick, R. and Boudreau, J.W. (1992) â€Å"Human resource management, information technology and the competitive edge†, Academy of Management Perspectives, 6 (2), pp. 7-17. [online]. Available at: http://ezproxy.napier.ac.uk:2334/docview/210521060/fulltext PDF/13A99A5CA0029773271/6?accountid=16607 (Accessed 21st November 2012) Burbach, R. and Dundon, T. (2005) â€Å"The strategic potential of human resource information systems: Evidence from the Republic of Ireland†, International Employment Relations Review, 11 (1/2), pp. 97-117. [online]. Available at: http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=164472644509297;res=IELBUS (Accessed 21st November 2012) Burris, B.H. (1983a) No room at the top, New York, Praeger Burris, B.H. (1998) â€Å"Computerisation of the workplace†, Annual Review of Sociology, 24, pp. 141-157. [online]. Available at: http://ezproxy.napier.ac.uk:2334/docview/199730349/fulltextPDF/13A94B0278177DBCD7E/8?accountid=16607 (Accessed 10th November 2012) CIPD (2005) People management and technology: progress and potential, London, CIPD. CIPD (2007) HR and Technology: beyond delivery, London, CIPD Daniel, W.W. (1987) Workplace industrial relations and technological change, London, Frances Pinter. Dery, K., Grant, D. and Wiblen, S. (2009) Human resource information systems (HRIS): replacing or enhancing HRM, Paper presented at the 15th World Congress of the International Industrial Relations Association. [online] Available at:http://sydney.edu.au/business/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/72273/IIRA_Dery_et_al_HRIS_Replacing_or_enhancing_HRM_final.pdf (accessed 10th November 2012)

Henry Sweetser Burrage :: Bibliography Bibliographies

Henry Sweetser Burrage I find myself on the threshold of a new year. Before me is this mysterious and unknown. As I set out to explore its secret windings I propose to take with me this book in order that I may note more carefully the various objects of interest which the future conceals, and record my own thoughts and feelings by the way. It promises to be an eventful year. January 1861 found America on the brink of Civil War, and Henry S. Burrage, pen in hand, faithfully recorded the current events in his diary at Brown. He could hear the latest news before the public, for he reported on public lectures for the Providence Journal and was often in the office when a dispatch arrived. By January, seven states had seceded from the Union, led by South Carolina. In February these "wayward sisters" were united as the Confederate States of America with Jefferson Davis as president. Over the next few months, four more states would secede, bringing the total to eleven as tensions grew and the population realized that war was inevitable. Yet for the most part, life went on as usual for the students of Brown University. They had other pressing concerns, such as passing Professor Gammell's class. William Gammell, class of 1831, was Professor of History when Henry Sweetser Burrage attended Brown. Once, in mid January, "Old Gam" did not appear for his usual fear-inspiring lecture, and the whole senior class rejoiced. Henry used this extra time to cram for finals. Every Saturday morning the students filed into the recitation room on the first floor of University Hall for Gam's class. The first half hour of class was spent reciting the previous lecture, and each student was required to talk about a portion of it. Gam would survey the room, pick his first target, and watch as the lad tried not to forget any major point which he had discussed -- if the Professor had to ask him to clarify, or remind him of a major issue, he would be marked down a point. The next student would discuss in greater detail the first major point, and so on around the room, from William Henry Ames to George B. Yandes. One Saturday, January 12, Gam had assigned yet another "outrageous lesson," this on top of all the final exam preparations which plagued the students: twelve paragraphs in addition to fifteen review paragraphs due on Monday. Henry Sweetser Burrage :: Bibliography Bibliographies Henry Sweetser Burrage I find myself on the threshold of a new year. Before me is this mysterious and unknown. As I set out to explore its secret windings I propose to take with me this book in order that I may note more carefully the various objects of interest which the future conceals, and record my own thoughts and feelings by the way. It promises to be an eventful year. January 1861 found America on the brink of Civil War, and Henry S. Burrage, pen in hand, faithfully recorded the current events in his diary at Brown. He could hear the latest news before the public, for he reported on public lectures for the Providence Journal and was often in the office when a dispatch arrived. By January, seven states had seceded from the Union, led by South Carolina. In February these "wayward sisters" were united as the Confederate States of America with Jefferson Davis as president. Over the next few months, four more states would secede, bringing the total to eleven as tensions grew and the population realized that war was inevitable. Yet for the most part, life went on as usual for the students of Brown University. They had other pressing concerns, such as passing Professor Gammell's class. William Gammell, class of 1831, was Professor of History when Henry Sweetser Burrage attended Brown. Once, in mid January, "Old Gam" did not appear for his usual fear-inspiring lecture, and the whole senior class rejoiced. Henry used this extra time to cram for finals. Every Saturday morning the students filed into the recitation room on the first floor of University Hall for Gam's class. The first half hour of class was spent reciting the previous lecture, and each student was required to talk about a portion of it. Gam would survey the room, pick his first target, and watch as the lad tried not to forget any major point which he had discussed -- if the Professor had to ask him to clarify, or remind him of a major issue, he would be marked down a point. The next student would discuss in greater detail the first major point, and so on around the room, from William Henry Ames to George B. Yandes. One Saturday, January 12, Gam had assigned yet another "outrageous lesson," this on top of all the final exam preparations which plagued the students: twelve paragraphs in addition to fifteen review paragraphs due on Monday.

Should Medicaid Pay for Abortion

Should Medicaid pay for abortion? This is a very touchy subject and one that has been in the newspapers for months now. It is also the main reason that the passing of the historic health was postponed for the amount of time that it was. I think that even though abortion is a touchy subject and won that has been a main topic since â€Å"Roe vs. Wade in 1973,† I think that is a very important topic and one that will always be discussed for much more time. I think that abortion should be legal and be the decision of the parties involved to make the decision on whether to have one or not.Also, I believe think that abortion should be covered by the tax payers in the case o rape or incest because both of those instances could result in a very tough life for the baby. Either the child will be hated by its mother because every day she looks at him/her it reminds her of her rapist, or the child is born with birth defects. To thoroughly make a good decision on where you stand with the a bortion topic, I think that you must first find out what abortion actually is.Abortion is the induced termination of a pregnancy with destruction of the embryo or fetus, any of various procedures resulting in the termination of a pregnancy, cessation of normal growth, especially of an organ or other body part, prior to full development or maturation, and the premature ending or abandonment of an undertaking. Abortion procedures include manual vacuum aspiration and dilation and suction curettage, both of which can be performed in early pregnancy.The social acceptability of abortion as a means of population control has varied from time to time and place to place throughout history. â€Å"It was apparently a common method of family limitation in the Greco-Roman world, but Christian theologians early and vehemently condemned it. It became widely accepted in Europe in the middle Ages. Severe criminal sanctions to deter abortion became common in the 19th century, but in the 20th century those sanctions were gradually modified in many countries. † In the U. S. the 1973 Roe v.Wade decision had the effect of legalizing abortion during the first three months of pregnancy; states were able to implement restrictions on access to abortion after the first trimester, though within constraints set by the courts. Since that decision, there has been a fierce debate between supporters and opponents of a liberalized abortion policy. As you see this is something that has been debated for centuries upon centuries. I have read many articals on abortion and how the procedure is actually conducted.The procedure seems to be very gruesome, that is why I can understand why some people like rep. Bart Stupak are diehard pro-life supporters. If you can recall Bart Stupak who is a senator from Michigan (our own state) was the democrat who along with twelve other pro-life democrats held up the passing of the healthcare bill with his votes until President Obama agreed to sign an executi ve order stating that government funding will not go to covering abortion in this new health care bill. After words Stupak said â€Å"We stood strong,† said Stupak. â€Å"We stood on a principle. Stupak’s argument really goes all the way back to Roe v. Wade. After Roe v. Wade decriminalized abortion in 1973, Medicaid covered abortion care without restriction. In 1976, Representative Henry Hyde (R-IL) introduced an amendment that later passed to limit federal funding for abortion care. Effective in 1977, this provision, known as the Hyde Amendment, specifies what abortion services are covered under Medicaid. Over the past two decades, Congress has debated the limited circumstances under which federal funding for abortion should be allowed.For a brief period of time, coverage included cases of rape, incest, life endangerment, and physical health damage to the woman. However, beginning in 1979, the physical health exception was excluded, and in 1981 rape and incest excep tions were also excluded. In September 1993, Congress rewrote the provision to include Medicaid funding for abortions in cases where the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest. The present version of the Hyde Amendment requires coverage of abortion in cases of rape, incest, and life endangerment. The first challenges to the Hyde Amendment came shortly after its implementation.The Supreme Court has held that the Hyde Amendment restrictions are constitutional and that states participating in Medicaid are only required to cover abortion services for which they receive federal funding rather than all medically necessary abortions. Challenges under state constitutions have been more successful. Several lawsuits have been brought in individual states arguing that state constitutions afford greater protection for privacy and equal protection than the federal Constitution. The Hyde Amendment affects only federal spending. States are free to use heir own funds to cover additional abortion se rvices. For example, Hawaii, New York, and Washington have enacted laws funding abortions for health reasons. Other states, such as Maryland, cover abortions for women whose pregnancies are affected by fetal abnormalities or present serious health risks. These expansions are important steps toward ensuring equal access to health care for all women. Prior to the 1993 expansion of the Hyde Amendment, thirty states chose not to use their own Medicaid funds to cover abortions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.Initially, a number of states expressed resistance to comply with the expanded Hyde Amendment, and presently thirteen states are under court orders to comply and cover rape and incest in addition to life endangerment. â€Å"Every court that has considered the Hyde Amendment's application to a state's Medicaid program since 1993 has held that states continuing to participate in the Medicaid program must cover abortions resulting from rape or incest in order to be compli ant with the Hyde Amendment, regardless of state laws that may be more restrictive. Federal funding has been covering abortion for years and according to the Hyde Amendment it covers incest and rape. My research has also led me to see that Michigan is one of twenty seven states that receive funding under the Hyde Amendment. This means that one of the states that use federal funding for abortion in special cases has the main representative that is arguing that exact system. This is kind of ironic to me. If the federal funding is there and actually has been there for seventeen years what the point of arguing the bill that will eventually save the government money.I have found some interesting information that if looked at maybe by some of our politicians they would not cause such a big fuss like Stupak and some other extreme conservatives like Sarah Palin about a the health care bill that not only is in the best interest of the people but also the best interest of the government in te rms of the budget but also the insurance companies who now will have more policies out there to bring in more revenue. Here are some interesting facts that I found about what type of women have abortions and why. Women with family incomes less than $15,000 obtain 28. 7% of all abortions; Women with family incomes between $15,000 and $29,999 obtain 19. 5%; Women with family incomes between $30,000 and $59,999 obtain 38. 0%;Women with family incomes over $60,000 obtain 13. 8%. † The reason women have abortion are as follows, â€Å"1% of all abortions occur because of rape or incest; 6% of abortions occur because of potential health problems regarding either the mother or child, and 93% of all abortions occur for social reasons (i. e. he child is unwanted or inconvenient). † So why not allow the health care bill to cover abortion? If the bill is basically just going to keep the Hyde Amendment rule in place or maybe take it another step forward and require police reports on alleged rapes and incest it really will not make a difference. If only one percent of all abortion are due to rape or incest, that amount of spending will not even dent the federal funding. I think more money is spent by politicians on their private jets that take all over the United States just to make appearances.While abortion remains perhaps the most contentious issue in American politics, what is one person’s principled stand is another’s crime against humanity. Abortion is a decision that should be made by the person going through the process not some politician from Texas for example who lives in a ten thousand square foot home and makes probably a million dollars a year after kick backs. Also if the system of states covering under the correct circumstances has been working for almost twenty years then I say why change it.Many times people let their emotions and personal feeling make their decisions when all they have do is put themselves in the position of the women who was raped, or the male is out of the picture and the mother will not be able to financially support a child and the child might end up in a dumpster, in the street or living in foster homes its whole life. I look at this way and I’m going to state a question to some of these people who think federal funding should not pay for this. Financially speaking as a nation, Is it financially better to cover a $500 dollar procedure once or pay for Medicare, housing, and food for eighteen years?From doing the basic math I think the $500 is a lot cheaper. The United States is a business. And just like any other business it needs money to survive. To maintain that money it has a budget, and that budget at this point is in a major deficit. This bill will save trillions of dollars over the next fifteen years imagine how much more money they could save all states allowed the lower income poverty striking women to have abortion under the state insurance, trillions more would be sav ed. Basic math is the key to answering this, in the end its all business.WORK CITED 1. Gregg Cunningham, WHY ABORTION IS GENOCIDE Winter 2000 2. AMERICAN GOVERNMENT TEXT BOOK 3. Megan Carpentier, Bart Stupak is no healthcare hero (march 22, 2010) 4. Peter Roff, The Next Healthcare Reform Fight: Make the Abortion Executive Order Law (March 24, 2010) Pr 5. Steven Ertelt , New Catholic Bishops Memo: Abortion in Health Care Despite Obama Order (March 30, 2010) 6. Tres Sugar, Congress Debates Whether Health Care Should Cover Abortion (07/09/2009) 7. Angela Blair, Obama's Healthcare Bill Requires All Americans to Pay For Abortions (3/7/2010) 8. The Henry J. Kaiser Foundation, â€Å"Medicaid's Role for Women. Issue Briefs: An Update on Women's Health Policy (November 2004). 9. The Guttmacher Institute, â€Å"State Funding of Abortion Under Medicaid. † State Policies in Brief (June 1, 2005). ———————————â₠¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€œ [ 2 ]. American government: page 102 [ 3 ]. www. abortion. com [ 4 ]. www. csmonitor. com [ 5 ]. The Henry J. Kaiser Foundation, â€Å"Medicaid's Role for Women. † Issue Briefs: An Update on Women's Health Policy (November 2004). [ 6 ]. The Guttmacher Institute, â€Å"State Funding of Abortion Under Medicaid. † State Policies in Brief (June 1, 2005). [ 7 ]. www. abortionno. org [ 8 ]. www. abortionno. org

Steroids Use Among Athletes Essay - 2159 Words

Abstract: With the increase of competition has also come the need to become bigger and stronger than the opponent. The use of steroids among athletes has caused the focus of the game to change. No longer does an athlete want to win by doing their best, but they want to become bigger and have an advantage over the opponent. Ultimately, all athletes feel that they need to use performance-enhancing drugs to compete at the same level. Despite all of the warnings and information on performance-enhancing drugs, athletes continue to use them and overlook the potential health risks associated with steroids. With the concern of becoming bigger and stronger rising among athletes, the focus of the game has drifted out of sight. It is†¦show more content†¦Other countries caught on, and by the mid-1960s the use was common. By the early 1970s almost three quarters of the athletes involved in middle-or-short distance running or in field events admitted to using steroids, and most of the weight lifters also used steroids (Kuhn 191). Finally in 1976, anabolic steroids were banned but professional weight lifters continued to use them (Kuhn 191). The issues that surround the use of steroids among athletes raises much controversy and debate. What most users tend to overlook are the dangers and risks of steroids. One of the biggest problems with steroids is the fact that athletes only look at the immediate results, muscle and strength, and not at the long-term results that will damage their health. One of the biggest controversies that surrounds the use of steroids and comes under debate numerous times is the unfair advantage that steroids give to the athletes who use them. The use of anabolic steroids by athletes, professional or amateur, is a form of cheating. 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