• action item – n., a specific task that needs to be accomplished; usually used in the context of a corporate meeting.

When someone takes “ownership” of an action item, this indicates responsibility to accomplish the specified task.  Here’s a usage example: “At the last meeting, we decided that someone from the legal department needed to review our proposal.  Who owned the action item to reach out to them?”

This piece of corporate jargon provides a more passive (and polite?) way of pointing the finger at someone and saying: “you must do this.”  For example:  “Can you take on that action item to complete the TPS Report?  Does Tuesday give you enough time?  Great.”