In many companies, policies are guidelines for management to cover their ass. E.g. "Giving gifts to political leaders in third world countries is prohibited and illegal". This is complete nonsense, every MNC above a certain size have no choice but to grease the wheels when operating in developing countries. That's just how it is. The policy is there so the lowest ranking middle manager in the chain of command can get thrown in front of the bus if for whatever reason there's regulatory scrutiny. Same thing here your situation, if you gain a reputation for being difficult, then if the projects fails for whatever reason unrelated to engineering, your colleagues would be happy to point their fingers at you. Don't be that engineer with poor social skills. No business manager appreciates a stickler for rules outside of legal and compliance departments.