In my experience I have seen that my attitude has always had a positive influence in the companies that I have worked at. I hope that you do not consider yourself as the leading role in "Der gute Mensch von Sezuan" by Brecht. I have seen that even in dysfunctional environments that there are always some people who can be influenced to take a more positive position. Remember that a dysfunctional company never starts off dysfunctional otherwise it wouldn't have survived from day one. The culture that you described is very much that of many civil services but to be honest I have also worked in some civil services (since I am a European citizen I am quite portable) and even found that people responded well even in those stubborn environments. My experience tells me that my attitude played the most important role in influencing others and not any corrupt way of thinking.