ABSTRACT
Explorations in Group Relations (Trist and Sofer, 1959) described how members came to accept the different roles taken by staff and developed their own 'member' culture. The institution of the 'night shift' dealt with many of the stresses and strains felt by various members, and provided a mechanism by which members could help each other. Today, after many more conferences have been held, there appears to be less improvisation by the members and hence less building of a member culture that is different from the general culture of the conference.
