Pressure to Be a Team Player

"OK I admit it. I'm not a team player. I work best when I work alone and am left alone," says Zach Sanders.

Zach's employer, an office furniture manufacturer, recently reorganized around teams. All production in the company's Winnipeg factory is now done in teams. Zach's design department has been broken up into three design teams.

"I've worked here for four years. I'm very good at what I do. And my performance reviews confirm that. I've scored 96 percent or higher on my evaluations every year I've been here. But now everything is changing. I'm expected to be part of our modular-office design team. My evaluations andpay raises are going to depend on how well the team does. And, get this, 50 percent of my evaluation will be on how well I facilitate the performance of the team. I'm really frustrated and demoralized. They hired me for my design skills. They knew I wasn't a social type. Now they're forcing me to be a team player. This doesn't play to my strengths at all."

Is it unethical for Zach's employer to force him to be a team player? Is Zach's employer breaking an implied contract that it made with him at the time he was hired? Does the employer have any responsibility to provide Zach with an alternative that would allow him to continue to work independently?