The article is, in part, suggesting that it's exactly those kind of status-conscious people who benefit from 'meeting therapy':
"Academics from the University of Malmo in Sweden say meetings provide an outlet for people at work to show off their status or to express frustration."
But yep, that might not be ideal for a participant who would prefer to be making progress on something else. I've seen a bunch of tech companies start to suggest to employees that they can and should leave meetings if they don't feel like their presence is important.
Yep; I'd imagine that's an intentional distinction by the author. Some people might act this way regardless of whether they move between a management or individual contributor role.
"Academics from the University of Malmo in Sweden say meetings provide an outlet for people at work to show off their status or to express frustration."
But yep, that might not be ideal for a participant who would prefer to be making progress on something else. I've seen a bunch of tech companies start to suggest to employees that they can and should leave meetings if they don't feel like their presence is important.