A Balanced elder body will view it something like this:
The article was written for world wide distribution.
It was written to encourage local congregations to consider the matter again based on what is reasonable in various communities.
There are some cultures where Beards are not the custom (Many Asian lands, Native American etc...)
There may also be localities where they have negative stigma as did beards 30-40 years ago in the US.
So if they are not common (the custom) and/or people in the world do not view them as acceptable, and respectable (i.e. professionals, business men, doctors, teachers, don't have them...) then a brother would want to consider that wearing one could be viewed negatively by the public and the congregation. Of course he could still choose to wear one, it is up to the individual.
On the other hand, if they are common, acceptable, respectable in the community, and you see local political leaders with beards, news casters with beards, business leaders, etc.. (examples: Paul Ryan speaker of the house, Wolf Blitzer, Chuck Todd, Michael Strahan, almost every commercial (and advertisers research this stuff because they don't want to offend potential buyers), then you may conclude there is a green light. Almost...
One final consideration - the conscience of others in the congregation. Some may freak if they have not seen brothers with beards before. If there is a lot of this, and a brother has a beard, until people in the congregation get used to the idea, and really understand bible principles, he may not have exemplary privileges.
So, in that case, all it will take is a few brothers who are willing to wear a beard, go out in service, comment, give student parts to persist for a while, then you would likely see a change in attitude.
In our circuit there were dozens of brothers with various forms of facial hair, from beards, goatees, chin only. So it appears that early adopters are already making the choice to have facial hair in our area. I am guessing that if culturally it does not swing back to having negative connotations, then within a couple of years JWs will mirror the population on the topic. In our area it seems 30-40% have beards, Among young men teens and 20s it seems that it is more like 75%.
True some Body of Elders will try to bully young men into submission, but in the end, it appears that here in the US, the wave has started, and there are many brothers who are principle based who are blazing the trail to acceptance across the US. They deserve commendation and support.