Colonel Paul Linebarger's authoritative Psychological Warfare defines propaganda as "the planned use of any form of public or mass-produced communication designed to affect the minds and emotions of a given group for a specific purpose…" Recent mixed messages from corporations, as well as leadership behavior as a form of communication (ISO 9001:2015 clause 7.4), show that Linebarger's definition is actually too narrow. Propaganda is any action or communication, whether planned or unplanned, whose effect is, regardless of intention, to influence attitudes and behavior. Organizations should therefore treat stakeholder perceptions as sources of risks and opportunities under ISO 9001:2015 (Clause 6.1).Linebarger added of propaganda, "Yet success, though incalculable, can be overwhelming; and failure, though undetectable, can be mortal." This was proven true not only in the Spanish-American War, First World War, and Second World War—all of which could have been prevented or mitigated through effective countermeasures to the dishonest propaganda that was used—but also in civilian enterprises where relevant interested parties form perceptions, and act on those perceptions, in response to the organization's intentional and unintentional communications.Propaganda must meanwhile be honest and constructive. Manipulative and self-serving propaganda that seeks to exploit stakeholders can easily backfire, and rightly so. If for example the organization encourages workers to look for ways to reduce waste and improve efficiencies, and then lays people off because they are no longer needed, the remaining workers will do everything possible to avoid future "improvements." Frederick Winslow Taylor made this clear in 1911 (Principles of Scientific Management) and the Ford Motor Company suffered its infamous labor relations problems during the late 1930s when Henry Ford's successors looked for ways to circumvent his no-layoff policy.

"Propaganda" consists, of any communication or action, whether honest or dishonest, and planned or unplanned, whose purpose or effect is to influence attitudes, perceptions, and actions. Antismoking campaigns and advertisements for blood drives are honest, non-manipulative, and constructive forms of propaganda. A quality policy (ISO 9001:2015 clause 5.2.1) that did not influence attitudes, perceptions, and actions would be what W. Edwards Deming would have defined as a slogan.People in positions of responsibility for any organization, and especially one that uses ISO 9001:2015 or IATF 16949, need to recognize that almost all forms of communication (clause 7.4) are forms of propaganda that influence organizational and stakeholder (relevant interested party) behavior.  It is therefore vital that the organization not send mixed messages or even counterproductive messages, and these are all too common in modern business. Discounts for "new customers only" send the very clear message that customers should take advantage of the discounts, and then go out and become somebody else's new customer.The actions of leaders, including especially the CEO, meanwhile tell relevant interested parties what the leaders consider important—such as quality, competence (clause 7.2), and the needs of the relevant interested parties (clause 4.2). The CEO cannot, for example, bring in even the most renowned quality expert to teach total quality management (TQM), walk out of the expert's presentation, and then expect the executives to take TQM seriously. If on the other hand the CEO participates personally in training front-line workers, the organization will understand that "training is the most important thing that happens around here."Dana Ginn and John Kotter, BMGI. "Leading People Through Transformational Change." (Lean Six Sigma World Conference, March 2016) report meanwhile that 90 percent of change initiatives do not meet all expectations, and 20 to 30 percent fail completely. The presentation also raised the point that "emotions speak more loudly than words," which underscores the need for effective, honest, and constructive propaganda.