We are trying to form a self-managing team model. The Scrum Master feels they must deliberately step back from directing decisions in order to empower the team to make their own decisions and own their work as a team.

Unfortunately, we often find that when the formal "authority" figure steps back, one or two vocal personalities quickly fill this space and begin to dominate discussions, decisions, and assign tasks in the same top-down dynamic we were trying to move away from. We are then back a square one.