Team communication actions: Beyond the dichotomy of face-to-face versus virtual interactions in teams

In this article, we introduce the novel concept of team communication actions, which reflects the actions that team members perform over communication media, shaping the way they interact with each other, such as using written messages or involving multiple participants. This new concept offers a more fine-grained and nuanced understanding of the use of communication media within teams. Modern teams interact through multiple media, combining information and communication technologies (ICTs) with face-to-face interactions. However, the study of ICTs is often associated with teams that exhibit some level of virtuality, overlooking the extensive use of ICTs by all kinds of teams. Additionally, this research has often adopted a dichotomous perspective of ICTs versus face-to-face interactions, grouping all ICTs together and ignoring their unique capabilities. The idea of team communication actions allows these limitations to be addressed by integrating the ideas of relevant computer-mediated communication theories, such as Media Synchronicity Theory and non-deterministic theories of technology, with the teams literature. To achieve this, we also present a list of eight different communication actions and analyse how these can impact several teamwork processes.