My opinion is that the pay-cheque counts.
The first thing that counts in a company is results. Of course quality is important in order to get recurrent business, and therefore it is important to have pretty good processes and not let too many things slip away. But in the real world you always have to balance expediency and quality for most efficient results. Results that keep the shareholders happy, results that keep the customers happy, results that keep the staff happy (in that order for most businesses - though this depends on who the top person is).
That said, like bethlakshmi and others say, if you can demonstrate value in the changes that you propose then get buy in, step by step, and bring it on.
My experience is that if you don't have support from above you still have a few routes to try.
- Do it for yourself anyway (bottom-up approach). But beware, you are on your own and it could backfire. So make sure that if your actions involve other people, that those people are Ok with it first. You must get at least reasonable levels of buy-in from all involved.
- Do nothing, keep the status-quo (get to know your world before you swim out of sight of the coastline). You now risk to do a job that you don't like. But this can buy you time, if circumstances don't get in the way. Use that time, though, to build alliances, to build your credibility, to adopt other ways of doing things in order to get into the politics and systems of the place.
- Build a solid business case for it that clearly demonstrates the benefits (top-down approach). This theoretical approach must be backed by significant experience though, from you or someone else, so long as they will respect the recommendations. Must be based on solid evidence for it to convince higher management.
You can blend from one solution into another or chop and change. Your choice. If you get results or a message that they value, you will get noticed in a good way.
Every project manager has their own style, especially in a large corporation. Each must work in a way that they feel comfortable working. So what suits you might not suit another and vice-versa. Those styles can be quite different, and so long as the general philosophy goes in the same direction and that everybody is happy with how they interact with one another, everything should be smooth.
At the end of the day, though, no matter who is right in principle, you can't and should not try to fight the tide. If the company is overwhelmingly going in one direction, you can't go in the opposite and expect to remain in your role. You must accommodate yourself with the broad direction that the company is taking, go with the flow and stir or veer in smaller ways in your direction of choice. You can't just do an about-face. Even if you feel that the about-face is absolutely required, you have to respect how the company got to be where it is today, who leads it and how they lead it. If you don't, you're in the wrong job and it is only a matter of time before you or they tire and look for alternatives.