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”.
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”.