Colonel Paul Linebarger, one of the world’s foremost authorities on psychological warfare, had this to say about propaganda: “Propaganda consists of the planned use of any form of communication designed to affect the minds, emotions, and action of a given group for a specific purpose.”

Although malevolent and dishonest applications of propaganda can and have killed millions of people, many benevolent uses for propaganda also exist. In fact, quality professionals must understand the role of propaganda in organizational performance if they hope to see their efforts bear fruit. Most propaganda is entirely honest, and quality policies are exactly that by definition. After all, a quality policy that does not influence attitudes and actions would be the kind of meaningless slogan against which W. Edwards Deming warned emphatically.

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