Documents and records can seldom be taken for what they purport to be. They are not neutral and objective accounts of organizational purposes and activities but reflect the biases and interests of those who compile and use them. To take at face value reports of such complex and sensitive matters as costs, productivity, or hiring priorities is naive.

W Richard Scott. "Some Problems in the Study of Organization Structure," Mid-American Review of Sociology, 2 (1977):3 as cited in: Arthur G. Bedeian (1980). Organizations: Theory and Analysis : Text and Cases. p. 42.