In sports, being a team player would mean something like you don’t play football as if its all a one man show. But at work isn’t this kind of independence a desirable thing? Like salespeople who have to carry their own weight at all times? At this point, looking at all these job ads is giving me the impression that what it really means is “submissive and obedient”.
At least to me, team player means someone who is able to get along well with their team mates in a professional setting. On a personal setting, I don’t care if they are friends or not, but it does help. Someone who is willing to help and contribute to the greater team objective. Doesn’t think or work in a silo mindset or be super calculative on ‘I did this and you did that’.
This does not mean I expect the person to just take on whatever extra work his teammates can not.
Honestly it just really depends on your boss and what kind of environment they were brought up in.
Best answer so far.
However I do see some counterproductive trend that make life difficult for people who care for their colleagues. A big one is obsession with quota/KPI. Some companies even purposely drive people apart and try to stir rivalry between them to “encourage competition”.