Traveling Management Ideas like Virus Infections

'Travelling ideas' denotes that virtually identical management ideas crop up more or less simultaneously in similar organizations globally The encounter between thought and practice may be lasting;beliefs may affect training and practice Leaders in organizations may play a more active role than the one often depicted in management fashion theory The ideas may in a trade-off between leadership and employees We keep acceptable and adequate ideas, while unacceptable and inadequate plans are The design is like a sensitizing concept of directions along which to look for temporary order and stability The adoption of a business idea is like a virus spreading all over leaving an enormous strength We identified the following ideas at Telia (Sweden) and Telenor (Norway): Globalization, Digitalization Trust-based leadership, Value-based leadership, Virtual teams, Project management agility, Working greener and Online home workplace The ideas came up both top-down as strategic intentions and bottom-up as the direction of work or by the COVID-19 crisis We found that most of the 60 largest corporations at the Scandinavian stock market practice the same ideas We have thus concluded that strategic and leadership concepts work as traveling ideas These buzz words go to almost any private business forming the way of thinking and working as a traveling virus We argue that this article's empirical test supports our belief that a virus-inspired theory gives a more vibrant picture than the fashion theory Our analysis shows that four of our six hypotheses, derived from the virus-inspired theory, are strengthened by Telia and Telenor's empirical explorative story Telia and Telenor have decided upon what is adequate and acceptable as their business ideas and beliefs, similar to other corporations globally as a virus infection The virus might hit the corporate culture differently, but then there seems to be the primary virus running every larger organization with a smaller differentiation than anticipated © 2020 Academic Conferences Limited All rights reserved