Mutation Testing by Using Formal Method

Mutation Testing by Using Formal Method Jaspreet Singh Abstract Mutation testing was introduced in 1970’s in the field of software testing as a process of testing the test suites by intentionally seeding errors i.e. mutation operators, into the original program’s source code. Its main purpose is to verify the functionality of the test cases which are executed with the aim of catching the variations between the program and the mutants. It’s extremely essential to improve the efficiency and adequacy of test cases. Hence, the goal is to make the mutant program fail. This paper depends upon the literature survey of mutation testing by using formal methods. Keywords- Mutant, Code, Program, Test cases, Kill, PIMS. I INTRODUCTION Since 1970’s, this technique is used by developers for validating the test cases as well as the test data generation. It’s a well know process to computer scientists for years. But due to heaviness of the method, it demanded huge computational power which reduced its usability. But the advancements in software engineering and the era of increased computational power, has laid it continue to serve as the most powerful method of verifying the functionality and performance of test suites. The objective is to improve the aptness and efficiency of test cases where the programmer will intentionally alter the original program’s source code by injecting a faulty piece of code known as a mutant, into it. The resultant code is referred to as mutated code. The mutation procedure will create many versions of the original program. Each version is known as a mutant. The execution of a mutant will verify the proficiency of the test case. If the output of the original program wi ll vary with that of the mutant one causing each faulty version to fail [1]. The resultant mutant is killed and the test case is saved considering it an adequate one. More the number of mutants killed by a test case, the better is the competency of the test case. Mutation testing is proficient in testing programs at the unit level, integration level and the specification level. It has been applied to many programming languages like C, C++, etc. and is a part of white box test technique [2]. II LITERATURE SURVEY Initial concepts of mutation were introduced by Richard Lipton in a class term paper titled â€Å"Fault Diagnosis of Computer Programs†. The first referred publications were presented in the late 1970’s ; the DeMillo, Lipton. PIMS was one of the first mutation testing tools [3]. It originated the basic procedure typically used in mutation analysis of creating mutants, obtaining test cases from the users, and then executing the them on the mutants to conclude how many mutants were killed. The most widely used tool among researchers was the Mothra mutation toolset [3], which provided an integrated set of tools, each of which performed an individual, separate task to support mutation analysis and testing. Several variants of Mothra were created in the early 1990s, including one that implemented weak mutation [4], and several distributed versions. A compiler-integrated mutation tool for C was also developed [5], and tool that was based on program schemata [6]. However, thes e tools were primarily used by the researchers who developed them and the only widely used system besides the original version of Mothra has been the Proteum mutation system for C [7]. A Formal Methods Formal methods are techniques based on mathematics and formal logic. It supports automated consistency checking and testing specifications. It helps finding defects when applied to good quality software. Such methods allow large number of classes of test cases having finite proof with support least dependence on subjective reasoning [8]. B The benefits of using Formal Methods include: Product-focused measure of correctness: The use is used for the of Formal correctness of a system. Early detection of defects: Formal Methods can be applied to earlier detection and elimination of design defects and associated late cycle rework. Guarantees of correctness: Unlike testing, formal analysis tools go through all possible execution paths through the system. If there is any way to reach a fault condition, a tool will find it. In a multi-threaded system where concurrency is an issue, formal analysis can explore all possible interleavings and event orderings[13]. Fig-1 Formal Methods such as model checking examine more system behaviors for safety violations than testing alone III NOTIONS OF FORMAL PROOF: A Mathematical proof: A formal proof is a complete and convincing mathematical argument, presenting the full logical justification for each proof of set of theorems B Machine-checked proof: A formal proof is evidence accepted by a proof checker showing that a conjecture is a valid consequence of given axioms. C Hilbert proof: A formal proof in a theory is a sequence of formulas, each of which is either an axiom of or a direct consequence of preceding formulas in the sequence by virtue of a rule of inference associated with the underlying formal system[14]. IV TYPES OF MUTANTS We define the following classification of mutants as follows: A Killed Mutant; which was killed by a test case which was specifically written to kill it. The concept behind mutation testing is that modifying the source code of a given unit (or mutating it) should cause the test that operates on that unit to fail. Example : Method and Corresponding Unit Test //original code under test public class Example { public boolean is LessThanThree(int number) { return (number Example : Mutated Method public class Example { public boolean isLessThanThree(int number) { return (number > 3); } } Notice that with this mutation, the method testLessThanThree would fail because the mutated method now returns the boolean number > 3, which in this case would be false and the assert statement is checking to see that the desired result is true. The method TestLessThanThreeFail would not fail, however, because 3 is not greater than 3 and the returned boolean would be false, which is what the assert statement is checking for. Because testLessThanThree failed, this mutant is said to be killed; the mutation caused the test to fail, which means the test is adequately catching this kind of mistake[12]. Dead on Arrival (DOA)- Mutant that was killed by the initial test suite found in the test bed. Ignored Mutant which a study participant encountered but did not kill. Living-Mutant which could not be killed due to time constraints (whether or not the mutant was encountered). Crossfire- Mutant that was killed by a test case intended to kill a different mutant. Stubborn.-Mutant that cannot be killed by a test case due to logical equivalence or language constructs. B Ordering Mutants: Let P be an implemented program and P’ be a first order mutant that differs from P at location l. A test case, t1 can distinguish P form P’ provided the following necessary and sufficient conditions hold on executing P and P’ with starting state t1: This has 3 properties: The execution must reach location l ( ); The evaluation of expressions at location l in P and P’ must result in different values at least once ( ) ; The final states on termination of execution of P and P’ must be different ( ). Properties (a) and (b) follow by observing that the location must be reached and in the case of a c-location the two executions must result in two different states if they are to be distinguished. 1) Process of Mutation Testing NO YES YES NO Fig. 2 Working of Mutation process The process of mutation analysis is shown in fig. 2. Steps are as follows: The program is being fed as an input and is executed. The resultant is checked . If the resultant indicates successful completion of the program, then terminate. If not, then create mutants (mutated code). A mutant, as previously mentioned is an intentionally altered program by the programmer. It is fed by some errors termed as mutation operators. Test cases are created to the system to be executed on the program. Execute the test cases against the mutant. If the output of the mutant is correct, then execute the test case on each version of the mutant. If not, then again the output of the original program is checked. Compare the output of the original source code with that of each version’s. A decision is made after determining the output of the original code with that of the mutated one. If the output differs, then the test is considered to be an adequate one and is executed on each of the mutants of the program The mutant that is detected is marked as dead/killed. Whereas, output being same indicates inadequacy of the test case and the program. 2) Mutation Operators- Taxonomy of mutation operators: 3)Statement Mutations: The mutant is produced by replacing the keywords in the statement, like While to do while While to For Example for Switch statement: Program Switch Statements case 0: i++; case 1: i = 4; Mutant: case 1: i++; case 0: i = 4; Operator Mutations The mutant is produced by changing the operator in the original source code. For ex: a=1, b=0 If (a b) { C=1; } else { C=0;} The condition mutation operator would replace with the mutation operator || and gives us the following mutant: If(a||b) { C=1; } else { C=0;} Variable Mutations Replace each variable with another variable declared in the same scope (variable types should be the same). Constant Mutations In constant mutations, the mutant tends to fail as there is no mutation operator to be replaced Ex: If (1) { printf (â€Å"How are you?†); } Else {printf(â€Å"I am fine.†);} In this case, mutation testing fails. [2] Example Original piece of a code: c=a+b; where a=3and b=2 Putting the values for a and b, it will result in 3+2=5 Now, possible mutants are c=a-b; , c=a/b; and c=a*b; Such mutations are mostly easier for a test suite to recognize if (a == b) { //do something } will be mutated to if (a != b) { // do something } Here, == is replaced by !=. V PROS AND CONS Mutation procedure is widely acceptable as an essential way to determine the fault-detecting effectiveness of the test sets. Now software developers and testers everywhere can enjoy the most powerful error- detection capabilities with the speed and ease of use of an automatic running debugging tool [9]. But, at the same time it pertains some disadvantages also, which are as follows: A PRO’S: Providing the testers with a target- One of the major advantages of mutation testing is that it provides the tester with a target. The tester has to generate a test data with the aim of killing all the generated mutants. Therefore, we can generate an adequate test data set that is capable enough to detect errors in the program.[10] Bringing more confidence in customers and testers- The customer also benefits from this technique , as he receives a more reliable and bug free software. This will increase confidence in them which will profit your company where it matters most. Mutation Testing originated as a means of creating more effective test suites by which the tester can be more confident that his program is adequately tested. It’s a powerful fault-based testing approach for competent programmers. B CON’S: Computationally expensive due to lack of automated tool..Mutation Testing is complicated and time-consuming to perform without an automated tool. Often, there are massive number of mutants that are generated for a original program as number of mutants is directly proportional to the mutation operators applied. Hence it is computationally expensive to run. The test cases on each and every mutant. It is also expensive to compile and execute every mutant [9][10]. An example of this is shown in Table No. 2 given below. Table 2 Increase In Computational Cost Such mutants only contribute in increasing the computational cost as the efforts needed to check if mutants are equivalent or not, can be very high even for small programs against the test cases. [2] Equivalent Mutants, one of the biggest problems- Syntactically different from the original program. But, semantically the same. Consider the example given in Table No. 3 given below: The equivalent mutant is generated by changing the operator Table 3 Equivalent Mutants Manual equivalent mutant detection is quite tedious- The other barrier to more widespread use of mutation testing is the amount of manual labor involved in using this technique. Hence, developing mutation adequate test cases can be very labor-intensive.[2] VI CONCLUSION This paper provides a detailed review of mutation testing .It covers the objective, Analysis of previous mutation systems, Formal Methods, working of mutation testing and efficient test case generation, Taxonomy of mutation operators and its Pro’s and Con’s . Mutation testing has given a great contribution in the field of software testing and provided the testers with a matured and affordable technique in detecting best test suites. Future Scope Our future scope is to develop a more advanced mutation testing approach that minimizes the issue of computational cost up to a certain level with the aim of killing all the possible mutants and thereby generating good test cases. REFERENCES [1] Yue Jia ans Mark Harman. An Analysis and Survey of the Development of Mutation Testing. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, King’s College London, Centre for Research on Evolution Search and Testing (CREST), Strand, London, WC2R 2LS, UK, 2010 [2] Hiralal Agrawal , Richard A. DeMillo, Bob Hathaway, William Hsu, Wynne Hsu, E.W. Krauser, R.J. Martin and Aditya P. Mathur, â€Å"Design Of Mutant Operators For The C Programming Language†, Software Engineering Research Centre, Department of Computer Sciences, Purdue University, W. Lafayette, IN 47907, Revision 1.02, March 20, 1989. [3] D. M. S. Andre. Pilot mutation system (pims) user’s manual. Technical report GIT-ICS-79/04, Georgia Institute of Technology, April 1979 [4] A.J Offutt and S.D.Lee. An empirical evaluation of weak mutation. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering , 20(5): 337-344, May 1994. [5] R.A. DeMillo, E.W.Krauser, and A.P. Mathur. Compiler-integrated program mutation. In Proceedings of the Fifteenth Annual Computer Software and Applications Conference (COMPSAC’ 92), Tokya, Japan, September 1991. Kogakuim University, IEEE Computer Society Press. [6] R. Untch, A.J. Offutt, and M.J. Harrold. Mutation analysis using program schemata. In Proceedings of the 1993 International symposium on Software Testing, and Analysis, pages 139-148, Cambridge MA, June 1993. [7] M.E. Delamaro and J.C. Maldonado. Proteum – A tool for the assessment of test adequacy for C programs. Proceedings of the Conference on Performability in Computing Systems, pages 75-95. July 1996. [8] A. Jefforson Offutt, A practical system for mutation testing: Help for the common programmer, ISSE Department, George Mason University,Fairfax, VA 22030, 1994. [9] S. Madiraju ,S. Ramakrishnan and A.J.Hurst, â€Å"Towards Automated Mutation Testing†, March 2004. [10] A. Jefferson Offutt and Roland H.Untch, Mutation : Uniting the orthogonal, A. Jeerson Offutt ISE Department, George Mason University Fairfax, VA USA, Roland H.Untch, Department of Computer Science Middle Tennessee State University Murfreesboro, 2000. [11] David L. Dill, â€Å"Formal Methods Specification and Verification Guidebook for software and computer systems† Vol. 1, Computer Science Department, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, July 1995. [12] Ben Smith and Laurie Williams, â€Å"Software Engineering†, Department of computer science North Carolina State University. [13] Murali Rangarajan, â€Å"Formal Methods†,Honeywell Laboratories 3660 Technology Drive Minneapolis, MN 55418. [14] James G. Williams and Marshall D. Abrams, â€Å"Formal Methods And Models†.

The Characters’ Conformation to Social Restrictions in the stories The Gilded Six-Bits and The Waltz

In the stories The Gilded Six-Bits by Zora Neale Hurtson and The Waltz, by Dorothy Parker, the main characters find themselves acting under the tight social constraints that society projects on them. Their gender, race and class all dictate how they see themselves and how others see them, and therefore how they must act. Missie May, Joe and the narrator of The Waltz are all puppets to convention, although not always conscious of it. Through this essay I will demonstrate the social restrictions and rules that existed for people of color and women in the early 1900s, with evidence from the text. The Gilded Six-Bits is a moving story of frustration and greed. In the home of a poor young black couple in the southern states is where our scene takes place. As we find out, Missie May is an attractive black newly married homemaker who takes pride in her husband's hard work and in her own work around the house. Her husband who works at a fertilizer company adores her, and puts her on a pedestal and yet expects her to stay in her role as a subservient homemaker. As is demonstrated in the story, Missie May struggles with her social restrictions and expectations. Firstly, the color of her skin decrees of what class she is. She is of color, meaning she is lower than even the lowest white folk and also dictates what part of town she must live, at what level she must marry, and where she is to work, but most importantly, it defines how other (white) people treat her. Not only is Missie May black, but also a woman. This puts her at a double disadvantage, since even white women were still struggling to be recognized as valued human beings at this time. White women were just achieving the vote and had just finished proving to the world that they were valuable commodities, during the First World War, when they were made to do men's jobs to keep society going. Opinion of women at this time is very low. Women's main role was still to marry and have children. In The Gilded Six -Bits, the first example of role playing is during Missie and Joe's little game. Every Saturday Joe throws silver dollars onto the floor where Missie stands, and then she must catch him and go through his pockets to find the coveted candy kisses. This is a fun routine they go through every week when Joe is paid, and both parties look forward to it. Missie May goes through the motions of the game: â€Å"Nobody ain't gointer be chunkin' money at me and Ah not do 'em nothin',† she shouted in mock anger.† (p. 1439) Hence, the first role Missie plays is as a predator in a friendly game with her husband. Although society doesn't impose what she is supposed to do in that instance, it is her husband's expectations that are imposed on her. Joe insists on playing this game every week, and therefore she must play her character with him every time. Although it is ‘just a game', it is very representative of their relationship in that he requires her to take her role as he takes his. Next, we see Missie in her predictable role, as a wife and as a woman. We hear from Joe that â€Å"Woman ain't go no business in a man's clothes nohow. Go away.† (p.1440) And later he puts her in her place by denouncing the fact that she is hungry: † ‘You ain't hongry, sugar,' Joe contradicted her. Youse jes' a little empty. Ah'm de one whut's hongry.† Next, Joe gives Missie an order that insults her since she knows how to do her business: â€Å"Have it on the table when Ah git out de tub.† She resentfully comes back with her declaration that she is indeed an excellent wife: â€Å"Ah'm a real wife, not no dress and breath.† As you can tell, Missie accepts her role as a woman and as a wife, and also accepts her subservient role with her husband. She follows the guide lines he sets for her. An interesting observation is that the rules differ as soon as they enter the home. During their little game, Missie and Joe are equals, but as soon as they set foot in the home setting, Missie becomes servile and Joe becomes demanding. Joe is the hard working husband, who brings home the money and supports his wife. He treats his wife well, and ‘adores' her and yet expects her to be obsequious. â€Å"Ah'm satisfied de way ah is so long as ah be yo husband, ah don't keer bout nothing else.† (p.1442). He is proud that she is very attractive and treats her as an object and feels he owns her. â€Å"Ah ain't never been noewhere and Ah ain't got nothin but you.† (p.1441) Joe also feels the need to parade Missie around to show off what he's got: â€Å"Go ‘head on now, honey and put on yo' clothes. He talkin' 'bout his pritty womens – Ah want ‘im to see mine.† (p.1442) Another instance of keeping in the role of a lady is when Joe refuses to give Missie a second helping of the tater pone: â€Å"Nope, sweetenin' is for us men-folks. Y'all pritty lil frail eels don't need nothin' lak dis. You too sweet already.† (p.1440) I interpret this to mean he doesn't want her to take more because it isn't lady-like to have seconds and he wants her to keep her nice figure so he can show her off. His possessive attitude changes when he catches Missie May in bed with Otis D. Slemmons. His attitude towards her changes immensely. She no longer has ‘marital duties', but still must maintain the cleaning and cooking. This makes her more of a slave than a wife, because she is supposed to do these things as a wife, but once the intimacy is gone, what is left is the bare bones of being a wife, which is to cook and to clean for the husband. After she is caught in bed with Slemmons, Missie laments her loss of menial duties: â€Å"It was day. Nothing more. Joe wouldn't be coming home as usual. No need to fling open the front door and sweep off the porch, making it nice for Joe. Never no more breakfast to cook; no more washing and starching of Joe's jumper-jackets and pants. No more nothing, So why get-up?† (p.1444) I find it very interesting that as soon as her husband finds out about her affair, she mourns not the loss of trust, or ‘good times', but she mourns the work that she did for him. She laments that she can no longer serve him the way she used to. Missie May took her role as being a wife very seriously and when she thought there was no need for her ‘services' anymore, she decided there wasn't much to live for, which is quite shocking. Missie May was so involved in her role with her husband, that she had no other identity. â€Å"He had both chance and time to kill the intruder in his helpless condition – half in and half out of his pants – but he was too weak to take action. The shapeless enemies of humanity that live in the hours of Time had waylaid Joe. He was assaulted in his weakness. Like Sampson awakening after his haircut. So he just opened his mouth and laughed.† (p.1143) This last scene describes a time when Joe does not know how to act or what to do. There is not a specific protocol for poor blacks or rich whites of what to do when one catches one's wife cheating. He is not sure what he feels or whether to laugh or cry. He is not clear as to what his role in this situation is. Does he kill the intruder? Does he beat his wife? Joe is caught in a brutally complicated situation, where society has no specific guidelines to follow. Fortunately, Joe, being the good soul he is, hits Slemmons, and comforts his wife, not following convention in the least with those actions. The narrator in The Waltz by Dorothy Parker takes a humorous look at women's etiquette in society. The Waltz is about a woman who is trapped in the conventions of her high class society. She must conform to the ‘rules' of her status. In this case, she is asked to dance by a man whom she detests and does not want to waltz with. For pages, she condemns the man with whom she dances while outwardly ‘enjoying' herself. The narrator (whom we shall refer to as Mary) ironically points out how women are supposed to be passive and receptive to men. The rules of convention dictate that she must not only dance with him, but forgive his clumsiness and invite him to continue dancing with her, all the while, inside damning his every word and motion. â€Å"There was I, trapped. Trapped like a trap in a trap.† (p.1463) Although Missie May and ‘Mary' differ greatly in their social class and their race, they share a common bond of both being women in the early 1900s. Here we have Missie May, at the very bottom of the social totem pole, being a black woman, and then we have Mary, who is of the highest social ranking, and incredibly, both suffer from the constraints of society. In the next quotation, we see the two facedness of Mary; the contradiction between her thoughts and her actual speech: â€Å"Ow! For God's sake, don't kick, you idiot; this is only second down. Oh, my shin. My poor, poor shin, that I've had ever since I was a little girl! ‘Oh, no, no, no. Goodness, no. It didn't hurt the least little bit. And anyway it was my fault. Really it was. Truly. Well, you're just being sweet, to say that. It really was all my fault.' Die he must and die he shall, for what he did to me. I don't want to be the over-sensitive type, but you can't tell me that kick was unpremeditated†¦but when it comes to kicking, I am Outraged Womanhood. When you kick me in the shin, smile.† (p.1463) Mary apologizes profusely, and is always saving the man's embarrassment, always cradling the man's ego. This high-class woman is expected to stay mute about her opinions and stoop to pleasing the man. Even though she is not serving a man directly as Missie May serves Joe, Mary is in a sense serving under male society's laws. She serves men by not outwitting them, by not broadcasting her opinions and by ‘smiling'. Mary is just as servile as Missie May in that she obeys a man based society. The three characters discussed in this essay, from The Gilded Six-Bits and The Waltz, all deal with the challenges of their roles in society differently. Missie May accepts her role graciously, until she lashes out and has an affair, Joe gets caught in a moment when he does not know what to do, and therefore laughs, and ‘Mary' talks to herself, but never exposes her inner thoughts. No matter the class, race or gender they all found ways to cope with the roles society had imposed on them.

Performance Management System

Contents 1. Performance management on the benefits of a company or organization. 2. Examples and behavior of Performance management. 3. Performance Management Systems 4. Human Capital and Strategic Planning 5. Recommendations Performance management on the benefits of a company or organization. Successful organizations know that to win in today’s competitive marketplace they must attract, develop, and retain a talented and productive staff.Winning organizations get their competitive edge from a performance management system that communicates the organization’s vision and values, aligns individual and team performance goals with the organization’s strategic objectives, outlines career development paths for each team member, and provides ongoing feedback for staff development. We will guide you through the development of your Competency Based Performance Management System, customizing the program to reflect the unique needs of your organization.A Senior Consultant w ill work with your leadership team to develop a model that will maximize employee input, buy-in and utilization of the new review process. Performance management system training is a process that uses your employees to their full potential, developing the talents of the existing workforce as a cost-effective way to increase the bottom line. These systematic training programs ensure the goals of your company are consistently met by each individual employee.Performance management helps evaluate each employee to see if he is in the right position, and a continued training program develops his skills to their highest level. Having a common goal among employees and management is what makes a company successful. Performance management system training teaches and develops these common goals. When you train your employees effectively, they know what is expected of them and need less monitoring. Employee morale is boosted when each employee feels she is adequately qualified for her job posit ion.Positive morale has proven to increase productivity, which ultimately means higher profits for the business. Performance management includes employee appraisals as a necessary first step. Discerning how your employees currently perform helps you determine how you would like them to perform. You can then set the goals necessary to bridge that gap. You will create a checklist of what you want to assess in each employee, establish a deadline for completing the appraisals and determine how you will go about the evaluation.Performance management is all about motivating employees to do better, so these appraisals are an opportunity for supervisor and staff to mutually agree on goals that will help them succeed. Examples and behavior of Performance management. A management system is the framework of processes and procedures used to ensure that an organization can fulfill all tasks required to achieve its objectives. For instance, an environmental management system enables organizations to improve their environmental performance through a process of continuous improvement.An oversimplification is â€Å"Plan, Do, Check, Act†. A more complete system would include accountability (an assignment of personal responsibility) and a schedule for activities to be completed, as well as auditing tools to implement corrective actions in addition to scheduled activities, creating an upward spiral of continuous improvement. Also as in the aforementioned management system, an occupational health and safety management system enables an organization to control its occupational health and safety risks and to improve its performance by means of continuous improvement.A management system is a proven framework for managing and continually improving your organization's policies, procedures and processes. The best businesses work as complete units with a shared vision. This may encompass information sharing, benchmarking, team working and working to the highest quality and environ mental principles. A management system helps your organization to achieve these goals through a number of strategies, including process optimization, management focus and disciplined management thinking. Performance Management SystemsPerformance management is a discipline that aims at promoting organizational performance by managing the human capital of an organization. The know-how, skills and capabilities that inherent and used by workers in an organization are referred to as human capital. Human capital is an integral asset of any business, company or organization and many of them have concentrated their investments of human capital. Why are organizations interested in the development management and promotion of human capital? Is human capital becoming more and more relevant to organizations?Studies have indicated that there is a huge overt and covert influence of human capital on the performance of any organization and business and there has been intensive research on human capi tal as a factor in business and organizational performance. This is why organizations are increasingly empowering their human resource departments which deal with the human capital. It has been proved by various studies that any practice that promotes or enhances human capital influences organizational performance directly by molding organizational behavior and attitudes.Human capital also creates structural and operational focal points that improve efficiency. According to most business executives, people are the most integral assets in any organization because they are the ones that make the rest of the assets to function. They have proved that investment in people often lead to improved revenue and profit margins. However the problem that arises from this assertion is that human capital as an asset is not tangible. This means that is cannot be in any way captured in financial results and statement.This puts a challenge on the business executives to empirically prove that investme nts in the human capital adds positive value to an organization that results to the growth of the organization and additional, value to the shareholders. There are some indicators that can measure the effectiveness of human capital in a business. They include the image of the organization, popularity with headhunters, experience, satisfaction and loyalty but these signals are not efficient because they do not put a real estimate on the added value to the company.In simple terms, the influence of human capital on the growth of a business is something that cannot be easily documented quantitatively. This is what challenges business executives in their attempt to claim that people are the most important asset in any business. This complicates their quest for the organizations to allow more funding to enhance and promote the human capital they claim is the most integral asset. The human resource management departments in organizations in Australia have realized that human capital needs additional support for the organizations to grow in terms of market share, competitive advantage and revenue base.The emphasis on human capital by businesses and organizations in Australia is based not only on conventional ideals of human capital but also on the contemporary knowledge and information based world of organizations. in a society which is becoming revolutionized by technology, the concept of human capital cannot remain static. For businesses to remain competitive and productive in this digital age, the workforce must therefore be equipped with the relevant skills to keep them at par with the dynamics of technology.This will ensure that things to do with on job training must be emphasized. Additional financial capital needs to be channeled towards the human resource departments to facilitate the training of the workforce. Human Capital and Strategic Planning Strategic decision making must precede the HR functions of the organizations because it is the strategic decisions made that will determine how the strategic functions will be carried out. An organization must therefore identify its missions and visions which must be articulated to all the shareholders.Clear visions and missions are very fundamental for the development of HR strategies because they have to be relevant with the literacy levels and the competencies of the employees who will have to face the challenge of delivering it. One of the problems faced by organizations is the development of unrealistic strategic plans that completely destabilize the HR functions. This is because at times there is absence of leadership competence that does not understand that there is an umbilical cord that connects the strategies with their relevance to the people who will be supposed to execute it.This is why the HR department must also be part of the strategic decision making process and the best way of helping in the making of the strategic decisions is by using its competencies model where the compete ncies of the already existing employees are factored in such that while most of the visions and missions being planned will be planned around the competencies and the creativity levels of the existing employees.This will minimize the need to make a complete overhaul or a reengineering that would be occasioned by strategic decisions that do not factor in the competencies of the employees. Where the strategic decisions go beyond the competencies of the existing HR, external recruitment would be the most appropriate HR function otherwise, internal promotions based on competencies and performance would be the most viable option as long as the competencies and the performance of the existing HR is factored in during the strategic decision making process (Bradford, 2000).The strategic plans can be easily realized using a HR team that is already acquainted with the practices of the organization meaning that the internal promotions would be the most viable HR practice especially when recrui ting for middle level and top management positions. The use of the correct HR practices will enable an organization to adopt a holistic approach that will enable it to capitalize on the competitive market trends avoiding internal divisions and personal agendas that end up blocking the path to the realization of the strategic plans.Recommendations There are a few recommendations that will made that will help in the improvement of performance management systems 1. Firms should invest more in human capital because it is the single most important economic resource of any organization 2. The human capital should be availed with the necessary resources for them to be able to give firms a competitive advantage 3.Human capital should be included in the strategic decisions of a firm because they are the ones who will work on the strategies 4. A collective culture in should be enhanced in firms in order to give the human capital the correct working environment 5. There should be management an d leadership styles that support and motivate the human capital to enhance its performance

Salaries of Canadian Members of Parliament 2015-16

The salaries of Canadian members of parliament (MPs) are adjusted on April 1 each year. Increases to MPs salaries are based on an index of base-wage increases from major settlements of private-sector bargaining units maintained by the Labour Program in the federal Department of Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC). The Board of Internal Economy, the committee which handles the administration of the House of Commons, does not have to accept the index recommendation. On occasions in the past, the Board has put a freeze on MP salaries. In 2015, the MP salary increase was significantly more than what the government offered in negotiations with the public service. For 2015-16, the salaries of Canadian members of parliament increased by 2.3 percent. The bonuses that members of parliament receive for extra duties, for example being a cabinet minister or chairing a standing committee, were also increased. The increase also affects severance and pension payments for MPs leaving politics in 2015, which, as an election year, will be larger  than normal. Base Salary of Members of Parliament All members of parliament now make a basic salary of $167,400, up from $163,700 in 2014. Extra Compensation for Additional Responsibilities MPs who have extra responsibilities, such as the Prime Minister, Speaker of the House, Leader of the Opposition, cabinet ministers, ministers of state, leaders of other parties, parliamentary secretaries, party house leaders, caucus chairs and chairs of House of Commons committees, receive additional compensation as follows: Title Additional Salary Total Salary Member of Parliament $167,400 Prime Minister* $167,400 $334,800 Speaker* $ 80,100 $247,500 Leader of the Opposition* $ 80,100 $247,500 Cabinet Minister* $ 80,100 $247,500 Minister of State $ 60,000 $227,400 Leaders of Other Parties $ 56,800 $224,200 Government Whip $ 30,000 $197,400 Opposition Whip $ 30,000 $197,400 Other Party Whips $ 11,700 $179,100 Parliamentary Secretaries $ 16,600 $184,000 Chair of Standing Committee $ 11,700 $179,100 Caucus Chair - Government $ 11,700 $179,100 Caucus Chair - Official Opposition $ 11,700 $179,100 Caucus Chairs - Other Parties $ 5,900 $173,300 *The Prime Minister, Speaker of the House, Leader of the Opposition and  Cabinet Ministers  also get a car allowance. House of Commons Administration The Board of Internal Economy handles the finances and administration of the Canadian House of Commons. The board is chaired by the Speaker of the House of Commons and includes representatives of the government and official parties (those with at least 12 seats in the House.) All of its meetings are held in camera (a legal term meaning in private) to allow for full and frank exchanges. The Members Allowances and Services Manual  is a useful source of information on House budgets, allowances, and entitlements for MPs and House Officers. It includes insurance plans available to MPs, their office budgets by constituency, the House of Commons rules on travel expenses, rules on mailing householders and 10-percenters, and the cost of using the members gym (annual $100 personal expense including HST for MP and spouse). The Board of Internal Economy also publishes quarterly summaries of MP expense reports, known as  Members Expenditures Reports, within three months of the end of the quarter.