Sometimes, changes are culturally unacceptable… the scrum master, even armed with a good case for change, cannot push the necessary changes… in this case, the scrum master must acquiesce. Being right is not everything; live to fight another day… for those changes… it takes time to turn around a Titanic… and unlucky for the Titanic, it was too late… but for the scrum master, to acquiesce and to be still the action is better than being let go.
The scrum master walks a fine line between the need of an organization to make changes as quickly as possible and its limited tolerance for change.
Tough spot to be in… but… scrum is the art of the possible: do what you can with what you have… including organization’s culture.
Change the culture last. Anchoring changes in an organization’s culture is the last step to change. Refer to Kotter’s 8 steps to change.