The purpose of this manual is to acquaint both teachers and administrators of vocational and technical education with the principles and methods of fostering better leadership, communication, problem-solving, and decision-making skills as well as instituting cooperative models as a strategy for better preparing students to enter the world of work. The first unit addresses the major changes that have taken place in the U.S. economic system over the past several years. This unit points out how the concern for productivity and quality relies to a great extent on the input of workers both as individuals and groups. The remaining four units provide teaching materials to assist vocational educators in providing these new skills to students: (1) group processes; (2) communications; (3) leadership; and (4) systematic problem solving. Each unit contains the following parts: (1) introduction; (2) learning objectives; (3) conceptual materials; (4) exercises; and (5) references. (NLA)