WGU C236 Compensation and Benefits OA ACTUAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE 2025/2026 COMPLETE QUESTIONS WITH CORRECT DETAILED ANSWERS || 100% GUARANTEED PASS <BRAND NEW VERSION>

WGU C236 Compensation and Benefits OA ACTUAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE 2025/2026 COMPLETE QUESTIONS WITH CORRECT DETAILED ANSWERS || 100% GUARANTEED PASS &lt;BRAND NEW VERSION&gt; 1. Business Strategy - ANSWER The collection of decision, approaches, and activities that allow an organization to complete and win. 2. Cost Leadership Strategy - ANSWER Focusing business priories on providing a lower-cost product or service. 3. Differentiation Strategy - ANSWER Providing innovative, exceptional, and high quality products and/or services to customers. 4. Niche-Focused Strategy - ANSWER Targeting business priorities toward addressing a specific section of the market 5. Hybrid Strategy - ANSWER Employing a combination of cost-leadership, differentiation and niche-focused business strategies. 6. Critical Success Factors - ANSWER Capabilities, activities, customer perceptions and market positions that allow an organization to out-compete its rivals. 7. Total rewards strategy - ANSWER The combination of pay forms, plans, policies and practices that enable long-term organizational performance. 8. Total Reward Content Strategy - ANSWER Specifies the type, level and combination of rewards offered to employees. 9. Reward Form Combinations Strategy - ANSWER The reward forms offered (cash, benefits, etc.) and the way in which they relate to each other. 10. Reward Level Strategy - ANSWER How much is being offered? 11. Absolute level - ANSWER The reward can be defined. 12. Relative Level - ANSWER States the rewards strategy as greater than, equal to, or less than some labor market reference point. 13. Centralized approach - ANSWER Human Resources makes all the decisions 14. Decentralized approach - ANSWER Decisions are made by the employee's immediate supervisor or manager. 15. Job Analysis - ANSWER The process of systematically analyzing positions that result in completed work in organizations. 16. External Reward Positioning - ANSWER How an organization's rewards compare to the Rewards offered for comparable work in other organizations. 17. Central Tendency - ANSWER Describes what's typical for a set of data, usually measured by the arithmetic mean, median, or mode. 18. Outliers - ANSWER Numbers that are far above or below most of the other numbers. 19. Median - ANSWER The middle number when they are arranged from lowest to highest. 20. Weighted mean - ANSWER An average that takes into account the proportional relevance of each component. 21. Range - ANSWER The lowest number subtracted from the highest number. 22. Reward Surveys - ANSWER Aggregations of reward information gathered from other market organizations. 23. Benchmark jobs - ANSWER Jobs that are representative of the type, content and level of jobs in the organization. 24. Reward-level Strategy - ANSWER Refers to the extent to which a company will pay above, at, or below the market average. 25. Job-Specific Reward Level trategy - ANSWER Establishing different Reward Level Strategies for different job families or hierarchical levels. 26. Pay Form Specific Reward Strategies - ANSWER Varying pay-level strategies across reward types. 27. Pay grades - ANSWER The categories organizations put jobs into for rewards purpose. 28. Static - ANSWER Doesn't not change much over time 29. Individualistic Environment - ANSWER Work is done independently by singe employees reporting to a single supervisor 30. Linear Careers - ANSWER Employees can expect to spend the duration of their careers with a single orgaization 31. Dynamic Role based Job - ANSWER The work employees do changes on a regular basis. 32. Collaborative Environment - ANSWER Teams of employees work in concert to be creative, solve problems, and produce result. 33. Networked Careers - ANSWER Employees change jobs frequently, sometimes changing functions and industries to bring unique perspectives and competencies to their new roles. 34. Broadbanding - ANSWER Entails the use of a few broad bands (or grades) to organize work for pay purposes. 35. Principle of Inclusiveness - ANSWER States that a pay range needs to be large enough to capture the pay range of all jobs in that grade or band. 36. Principle of Overlap - ANSWER Says that there should be overlap in the pay ranges for successive pay grades or bands. 37. Principle of Control - ANSWER States that the size of pay ranges should be kept sufficiently small to enable an organization to control labor costs. 38. Shadow Range - ANSWER A system of smaller ranges within the pay ranges, applied to specific job families to provide guidance on appropriate compensation levels. 39. Compa-ration - ANSWER A ratio frequently used to measure the conformity of pay rates to the pay plan. 40. Principle of Parity - ANSWER Suggests that, in general, the more grades that are used the smaller the ranges will be. 41. Capability-based pay - ANSWER When a reward system explicitly attempts to attempts to vary rewards based upon capabilities of the employees. (Skill, competency, and seniority based pay) 42. Strategic measurement - ANSWER The definition of criteria are all conceptually and empirically connected to employee, unit and organizational outcomes. 43. Reliable measurement - ANSWER An employee's level of skill, competency, or experience can be assessed consistently across employees and rates. 44. Transparent Measurement - ANSWER The criteria and system should be easily understood and the processes for implementing the system should also be well documented and followed. 45. Reinforcement Theory - ANSWER Built on the assumption that behavior is a function of its consequences. 46. Total Rewards - ANSWER Refers to all forms of pay and compensation. 47. Three forms of rewards - ANSWER - Cash - Benefits - Intangibles 48. Strategy - ANSWER Process by which an organization decided which products and services to sell 49. Cash Compensation - ANSWER Monetary pay that employees receive in exchange for their work 50. Variable Pay - ANSWER Can include performance-based rewards such as bonuses and commissions, as well as longer-term equity rewards such as stock options. 51. Outcomes - ANSWER Goals or the criteria by which a rewards system can be judged 52. Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCB) - ANSWER Represent those value-creating activities in which employees engage but which are not part of their job. 53. Organizational Performance - ANSWER Can include effectiveness at meeting customer needs, new product creation, and gains in market share, profits, and other measures of financial return on the firm's assets. 54. Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 - ANSWER Federal law that requires employers to determine the "employee status" of each job so that certain protections (minimum wage, overtime pay, and child labor) can be provided to non-exempt employees. 55. Business Strategy - ANSWER Is the collection of decisions, approaches, and activities that allow an organization to compete and win. 56. Cost Leadership Strategy - ANSWER Emphasizes having a lower cost product or service as the highest priority throughout its processes. 57. Differentiation Strategy - ANSWER Places a high priority on providing innovative, exceptional, and high-quality products and/or services to customers. 58. Niche-Focused Strategy - ANSWER In which an organization chooses a small and segmented market and competes only in that small arena. 59. Hybrid Strategy - ANSWER Employing a combination of cost leadership, differentiation, and niche focused business strategies. 60. Critical Success Factors - ANSWER Are those capabilities, activities, customer perceptions, and market positions that allow an organization to outcompete its rivals 61. Human Resource Management - ANSWER Is the policies, practices, and systems that manage the interface between the organization and its employees in order to enable long-term organizational performance. 62. Total Rewards Strategy - ANSWER Is the combination of pay forms, plans, policies, and practices that enable long-term organizational performance. 63. Reward Form Combinations Strategy - ANSWER Refers to the reward forms offered (e.g., cash, benefits, etc.) and the way in which they relate to each other. 64. Reward Level Strategy - ANSWER 'How much is being offered?' Answering this question is the goal of the Reward Level Strategy. In formulating Reward Level Strategy, organizations must define what Level of each reward will be offered. 65. Absolute Level - ANSWER A reward can be defined. Paying an employee $50,000 salary per year, for example, is a defining absolute level. Alternatively, organizations can define their strategy relative to the market. 66. Relative Level - ANSWER Rewards strategy as greater than, equal to, or less than some labor market reference point. 67. Hybrid Approach - ANSWER Leading the market on certain forms of rewards while matching or lagging the market on other forms. 68. Total Rewards Process Strategies- It's not just what you pay but how you pay it - ANSWER Are the decisions, policies, and practices that define how Total Rewards are designed and implemented. 69. Design Strategy - ANSWER The process used to design the reward strategy 70. Broad Input - ANSWER Help, advice and thoughts from employees of all levels of the organization. 71. Communication Strategy - ANSWER A plan for creating, sharing, and receiving information relating to its Total Rewards Systems 72. Role and Control Strategy - ANSWER Policies and practices that allocate design, implementation, and discretionary control of the rewards system 73. Centralized Approach - ANSWER Human Resources department makes all decisions relating to pay strategy, as well as specific reward decisions. 74. Decentralized Approach - ANSWER Decisions can be made by the employee's immediate supervisor or manager. 75. Domestic Rewards Strategy - ANSWER Organizations that operate in a single country can define a single Domestic Rewards Strategy. 76. Global Rewards Strategy - ANSWER The collection of decisions, guidelines, and policies that define how the total rewards will account for country differences 77. Centralized Global Rewards Strategy - ANSWER Organizations attempt to have a single set of policies that are determined by the organization and utilized at all locations. 78. Decentralized Global Rewards Strategy - ANSWER Rewards policies are established and monitored at the country level with each location having discretion to adapt to their unique situations and contexts. 79. Reward Equivalence - ANSWER Due to differences in tax laws, costs of living, exchange rates, and differential perceived costs and rewards of the overseas assignments, organizations have to consider how to motivate the employees to take the expatriate assignment while simultaneously maintaining a sense of equity for those host country employees with which the expatriate works. Anchoring the definition of equivalence to the employees home country, the host country, or some global metric are common approaches. 80. National Culture - ANSWER Should be considered when rewards systems are designed because employees from diverse cultures may have very different definitions of what is rewarding. 81. Business Strategy Support - ANSWER Supporting a business' approach to adapting to changes in its environment in order to compete and win. 82. Rewards Strategy Coherence- Does your business strategy make sense - ANSWER The extent to which the parts of the strategy fit together in a logical and clear way. 83. Organizational Culture Fit - ANSWER The extent to which the Rewards Strategy aligns with and supports the ingrained practices, norms, and values of the organization. 84. Job Analysis - ANSWER The process of systematically analyzing positions that result in completed work in organizations. 85. Identify Job - ANSWER The first step is to identify the job being analyzed. 86. Job Analysis Steps - ANSWER - Identify Job - Observe and Interview Leadership - Observe and Interview Incumbents - Consolidate Information into Job Description Draft - Obtain Feedback and Revise Job Description 87. Observe and Interview Leadership - ANSWER The second step is to observe the workplace and interview the organizational leadership connected to the new job 88. Observe and Interview Incumbents - ANSWER The third step is to conduct more in-depth interviews with job incumbents to ascertain the tasks, duties, and responsibilities. 89. Consolidate Information into Job Description Draft - ANSWER The fourth step is to review the information gathered from the interviews to create the draft of the job description. 90. Obtain Feedback and Revise Job Description - ANSWER The fifth step is to use a survey or interview based process to have the subject matter experts review the job description to ensure that it adequately captures the job. 91. Traditional Interview - ANSWER The job analyst asks the job incumbent preset questions about the content, skills needed, and time spent on activities in the job. 92. Panel Interviews - ANSWER Multiple job incumbents (and sometimes multiple job analysts) all meet together to analyze the job. In panel interviews, the job incumbents themselves explore the agreement and contradictions in their responses 93. Custom Questionnaires - ANSWER A series of questions that job incumbents complete on their own. 94. Generic Questionnaires - ANSWER Purchased from a third party, they use general questions to which incumbents respond using scaled ratings. 95. Occupational Information Network (O*NET) - ANSWER An online database created by the United States Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration (Industry Resources) that provides an exhaustive listing of jobs and occupations. 96. PayScale - ANSWER A web site that hosts a continuous compensation and benefits survey that is based on data gathered from individuals who visit its site. 97. The Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) - ANSWER An additional resource provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). 98. Job Description - ANSWER Are written documents that serve as the primary source of information about jobs for many uses within the organization 99. Tasks, Duties and Responsibilities (TDRs) - ANSWER The building blocks of a job that represent the ways that an employee creates value for the organization. 100. Job Specification - ANSWER Translates the TDRs into the Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Other (KSAOs) that an employee needs to perform the job at a satisfactory level. 101. New employees and long-tenured employees are paid very similar amounts. - ANSWER Pay Compression 102. Varying pay-level strategies across reward types. - ANSWER Pay Form Specific Reward Strategies 103. The categories organizations put jobs into for rewards purposes. - ANSWER Pay Grades 104. New employees are paid more than those employees with substantial experience in the organization. - ANSWER Pay Inversion 105. Obtaining ratings of an employee's past performance. - ANSWER Performance Appraisal 106. Organizations use pay grades and ranges to monitor how well pay rates are conforming to the pay plan. _____________ is frequently used to measure this conformity. A. Compa-stats B. Compa-ratio C. Statistical analysis D. None of the above - ANSWER B 107. With the principle of overlap, it is impossible that an employee in pay grade three could be paid more than an employee in pay grade four. A. True B. False - ANSWER B 108. Overlapping grades allow for ___________ career management as employees are promoted up through their own function or take a lateral position in a different function. A. Difficult B. Robust C. Easier D. Similar - ANSWER C 109. The larger, overlapping ranges make it ______likely that employees can make such moves without having to dramatically raise or lower their pay. A. More B. Less C. Somewhat D. None of the above - ANSWER A 110. It is wise to leave a buffer zone around the current pay rates to ensure that the range is adequate. A. True B. False - ANSWER A 111. When jobs were grouped into________________, it was for the purpose of treating them the same for compensation purposes. A. Bands and threads B. Bands and threats C. Grades and bands D. Grades and threads - ANSWER C 112. For compensation levels a ___________________ needs to be established. A. Floor B. Ceiling C. Both A & B D. None of the above - ANSWER C 113. By using pay form-specific strategies, organizations can create more customized reward systems that are more likely to differentiate them from their competition in the labor market. A. True B. False - ANSWER A 114. In a dynamic-role based job: A. Compensation plans do not need to facilitate change B. Compensation plans need to facilitate change C. Compensation plans are able to stay static D. Compensation plans need to be evaluated - ANSWER B 115. Broadbanding allows organizations to: A. Use a few broad bands to organize work for pay purposes B. Use many broad bands to organize work for pay purposes C. Both A and B D. None of the above - ANSWER A 116. Broadbanding allows employees to do all of the following except: A. Manage lateral changes in their career B. Join and exit multiple organizational teams C. Modify their role in the organization D. Be promotable within a given time period - ANSWER D 117. The purpose of grades is to: A. Allow jobs creating a different amount of value for the organization to be treated in the same way. B. Allow jobs creating the same amount of value for the organization to be treated in the same way C. Allow jobs creating the same amount of value for the organization to be treated in a different way D. None of the above - ANSWER B