In order to determine adequately how community and technical colleges can work with business and industry to meet the training needs of the existing work force, one must first understand the relationship between lagging productivity and the national economy. In the short run, lagging productivity increases inflation and unemployment, lessens our standard of living, and confounds our ability to compete successfully in world markets. Long-term effects include social and political unrest, reduced national defense capabilities, snowballing economic problems, and worsened problems in competing in world markets. Investment in human capital and high technology in the form of improved vocational education and occupational training will result in a healthier economy. Vocational educators can and must work cooperatively with business and industry to improve human productivity and quality of work life through new management practices. Among those areas of human resource development in which possibilities for partnerships among business, industry and vocational education exist are the following: training for job redesign, employee orientation training, technical and scientific skill development, communications and basic skill development, supervisor orientation training, and training for employee participation. (Appended to the report are lists of resource persons, conferences, and references.) (MN)