C

Question 1

Career Development

Answer 1

Progression through a series of employment stages characterized by relatively unique issues, themes, and tasks.

Question 2

Career management

Answer 2

Preparing, implementing, and monitoring employees’ career paths, with a primary focus on the goals and needs of the organization.

Question 3

Career planning

Answer 3

Actions and activities that individuals perform in order to give direction to their work lives.

Question 4

Cash flow statement

Answer 4

Statement of an organization’s ability to meet its current and short-term obligations, showing incoming and outgoing cash and cash reserves in operations, investments, and financing.

Question 5

Center of excellence (COE)

Answer 5

An organizational structure that leverages staff expertise in certain areas to improve the entire organization’s strategic performance.

Question 6

Chain of command

Answer 6

Line of authority within an organization.

Question 7

Civil law

Answer 7

Legal system based on written codes (laws, rules, or regulations).

Question 8

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Answer 8

First comprehensive U.S. law making it unlawful to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Question 9

Civil Rights Act of 1991

Answer 9

U.S. act that expands the possible damage awards available to victims of intentional discrimination to include compensatory and punitive damages; gives plaintiffs in cases of alleged discrimination the right to a jury trial.

Question 10

Cloud computing

Answer 10

Style of computing in which scalable IT-enabled capabilities are delivered as a service using Internet technologies.

Question 11

Coaching

Answer 11

Focused, interactive communication and guidance intended to develop and enhance on-the-job performance, knowledge, or behavior.

Question 12

Code of conduct

Answer 12

Principles that guide decision making and behavior in an organization.

Question 13

Codetermination

Answer 13

Form of corporate governance that requires a typical management board and a supervisory board and that allows management and employees to participate in strategic decision making.

Question 14

Co-employment

Answer 14

Situation in which an organization shares responsibility and liability for their alternative workers with an alternative staffing supplier; also known as joint employment.

Question 15

Collective bargaining

Answer 15

Process by which management and union representatives negotiate the employment conditions for a particular bargaining unit for a designated period of time

Question 16

Common law

Answer 16

Legal system in which each case is considered in terms of how it relates to legal decisions that have already been made; evolves through judicial decisions over time.

Question 17

Comparable worth

Answer 17

Concept that jobs filled primarily by women that require skills, effort, responsibility, and working conditions comparable to similar jobs filled primarily by men should have the same classifications and salaries.

Question 18

Compa-ratio

Answer 18

Pay rate divided by the midpoint of the pay range.

Question 19

Compensation

Answer 19

All financial returns (beyond any tangible benefits payments or services), including salary and allowances.

Question 20

Compensation philosophy

Answer 20

Short but broad statement documenting an organization’s guiding principles and core values about employee compensation.

Question 21

Competencies

Answer 21

Clusters of highly interrelated attributes, including knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs), that give rise to the behaviors needed to perform a given job effectively.

Question 22

Compliance

Answer 22

State of being in accordance with all national, federal, regional, and/or local laws, regulations, and/or other government authority requirements applicable to the places in which an organization operates.

Question 23

Conciliation

Answer 23

Method of nonbinding dispute resolution by which a neutral third party tries to help disputing parties reach a mutually agreeable decision; also called mediation

Question 24

Confidentiality

Answer 24

Treatment of personal information that has been disclosed to another person or organization.

Question 25

Conflict of interest

Answer 25

Situation in which a person or organization may benefit from undue influence due to involvement in outside activities, relationships, or investments that conflict with or have an impact on the employment relationship or its outcomes.

Question 26

Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)

Answer 26

U.S. act that provides individuals and dependents who may lose health-care coverage with opportunity to pay to continue coverage.

Question 27

Constructive discipline

Answer 27

Form of corrective discipline that implements increasingly severe penalties for employees.

Question 28

Contingency plan

Answer 28

Protocol that an organization implements when an identified risk event occurs.

Question 29

Corporate social responsibility (CSR)

Answer 29

Varying ways an organization can create value, looking beyond traditional profit measures of revenue and expenses; includes such areas as philanthropy, volunteerism, corporate-sponsored community programs, social change, sustainability, corporate governance, employee rights, and workplace safety.

Question 30

Cosourcing

Answer 30

Arrangement in which an enterprise and a vendor share different tasks within a larger complex, often strategic responsibility.

Question 31

Cost-of-living adjustment (COLA)

Answer 31

Pay adjustment given to eligible employees regardless of performance or organizational profitability; usually linked to inflation.

Question 32

Covering

Answer 32

Defensive behavior that occurs when an organization recruits a diverse workforce but, consciously or otherwise, promotes assimilation rather than inclusion.

Question 33

Cultural intelligence

Answer 33

Capacity to recognize, interpret, and behaviorally adapt to multicultural situations and contexts.

Question 34

Culture

Answer 34

Basic beliefs, attitudes, values, behaviors, and customs shared and followed by members of a group, which give rise to the group’s sense of identity.