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The Organization of New Friends New Life

John Arra
Samantha Jolley
Runeil Naik
Arshdeep Singh
Lukas Teese
Shea Van Schuyver
The University of Texas at Dallas
November 17, 2014

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Table of Contents
The Organization of New Friends New Life .................................................................................. 3
Overview ..................................................................................................................................... 3
History. .................................................................................................................................... 3
Mission. ................................................................................................................................... 4
Structure................................................................................................................................... 4
Analysis ....................................................................................................................................... 5
Motivation. .............................................................................................................................. 5
Organizational Commitment. .................................................................................................. 6
Organizational Culture. ........................................................................................................... 7
Organization Structure. ............................................................................................................ 9
Stress. ..................................................................................................................................... 10
Recommendations ..................................................................................................................... 11
Stress. ..................................................................................................................................... 11
Organization Structure........................................................................................................... 12
Organizational Commitment. ................................................................................................ 13
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 15
References ..................................................................................................................................... 16

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The Organization of New Friends New Life
New Friends New Life is an organization that provides resources and programs that help
women escape the commercial sex industry. Applying organizational behaviors principles to
areas such as motivation, commitment, culture, structure, and stress will help the organization as
they continue helping women.
Overview
History. New Friends New Life began in 1998 when an exotic dancer named Amy
wandered into a womens small group at the Preston Road Church of Christ. Amy expressed her
desire for a different job and asked for assistance out of the industry. This team of women from
the church rallied around Amy, supported her financially, and provided opportunities for her to
become self-sufficient. Once Amy was free from the commercial sex industry, the group found
other women who desired to leave as well. Receiving private donations from the church and
individuals, this process continued to occur and over time many women were set free from sex
trafficking. This was the beginning of New Friends New Life. The group became a nonprofit
organization in 2007 and grew quickly. Providing services to the women coming in from all over
Dallas, the organization developed various programs to provide individual counseling, group
therapy, and long-term rehabilitation. In its first five years, New Friends New Life assisted 87
women.
As women graduated from the program, they were able to personally help others through
as well. Each victim knew many other women involved, so the number of participants in New
Friends New Life increased exponentially. The volunteer and staffing numbers grew to
compensate, and in 2013 New Friends New Life was able to serve 792 women and their children.
In this expansion period the organization developed many of its most crucial programs. A whole

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new array of services were implemented to assist the children. They were paired with
educational tutors and mentors, which led to the organization connecting with school districts
and legal services. The victimized women gained access to casework management, GED classes,
and job readiness programs. New Friends New Life has also partnered with many companies to
provide jobs and internships that help the women become self-sufficient.
Mission. New Friends New Life is a Christian-based organization that highly values
sharing their beliefs with the women they serve. They are committed to helping women in the
Dallas metroplex, as evidenced by their mission statement (New Friends New Life 2014):
New Friends New Life restores and empowers formerly trafficked teen girls and
sexually exploited women and their children. By providing access to education, job
training, interim financial assistance, mental health and spiritual support, New Friends
New Life helps women and their children overcome backgrounds of abuse, addiction,
poverty and limited opportunities.
Through various programs they provide, New Friends New Life successfully complies
with their mission statement. They continually go back to the principles that they are founded on
as they grow as an organization.
Structure. While the organization began with a group of women helping one victim, it
has since grown tremendously. Throughout the organizations growth, its structure has evolved
into what it is today. New Friends New Life is now a formal organization with a bureaucratic
structure that provides many internal and external resources to women trying to get out of the
commercial sex industry.
Today, New Friends New Life operates as a nonprofit organization. It is governed by a
Board of Directors that ultimately makes decisions and guides the organization. New Friends

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New Life also has an Advisory Board that helps direct the organization. In addition, they have a
Circle of Friends Board, consisting of partners that volunteer with and assist the organization.
Staff members of the organization are required to submit reports to the board, and have bimonthly board meetings with the directors.
The organizations staff is headed by Executive Director Katie Pedigo. Underneath her
are the Programs Director and the Development Director. Under the Programs Director the staff
is broken up based on the specific programs they are involved with including counseling, social
work, childrens programs, and the resource center. Under the Development Director,
fundraising and other development tasks are handled.
Analysis
Motivation. The employees at New Friends New Life display high levels of motivation.
This can be explained under the expectancy theory of motivation. The first part of this theory
explains that expectancy is when employees believe that their efforts will result in success and
therefore work harder. The second part of the theory explains that success will result in desired
outcomes. The employees at New Friends New Life believe that their hard work will result in the
freeing of trafficked women. This produces intrinsic outcomes such as joy and accomplishment,
a form of intrinsic motivation. This is a particularly strong form of motivation in the organization
because their jobs are very meaningful and have significant impacts on the lives of others. In
addition, the employees are able to incorporate their faith into their work, which is possibly the
biggest driving factor in their motivation.
Even though the employees work in offices and focus on specific work roles, they still
have some level of self-determination. This provides them with freedom to work on tasks and

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programs that they enjoy. It also helps them achieve goals more effectively, which improves
their job satisfaction.
New Friends New Life exhibits impact-satisfaction relationships which increase
psychological empowerment within its staff. The employees at New Friends New Life are given
a lot of opportunities to make a difference in the organization as well as with the women they
help to become self-sufficient. The difference they make in improving the lives of the advocates
and their children contributes to the value that what they are doing is for a larger purpose. In
summary, there was a high correlation between job satisfaction and the three dimensions;
meaning, choice and impact. It is hard to determine if competence played any role in motivating
the employees. Their motivation is not directly related to their set of abilities or skills, but relies
on the factors and circumstances of the women coming in from the outside world. It is highly
unlikely that the employees would have a strong sense of competence and believe that they have
what it takes to achieve success at work.
Organizational Commitment. New Friends New Life is an affective based organization
that relies on this type of commitment to keep their staff members and their volunteers engaged
and committed to the organization. This affective based commitment style developed from their
work environment; they work with women who are in a circumstance where they rely on the
organization members to help them. The agencys affective commitment style could also be
attributed to faith, as they are a faith-based nonprofit organization. Both of these factors help to
create emotional attachment to the agencys work, which in return increases the commitment to
the organization. They do not exhibit the other types of commitment, continuous or normative, as
prominently as affective so they are of nominal factor. Their affective commitment also helps in
their response to withdrawal behaviors.

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New Friends New Life operates in high-stress situations, both mentally and physically,
and is under a lot of pressure to help its advocates get back on their feet. In this field, there are
withdrawal behaviors that occur as time passes. The main withdrawals the members exhibit are
psychological withdrawals, which consist of actions that provide a mental escape from the work
environment, actions such as socializing, daydreaming, and cyber loafing. To combat withdrawal
behaviors and negative events the members use voice, an active constructive response to help
improve the situation, and loyalty, a passive constructive response that maintains public support
for the situation. Since most of the employees consist of citizens and a few stars, they strive to
improve their situation when faced with withdrawals. Both types of people possess high levels of
commitment, perform many of the voluntary extra-role activities, and respond more
constructively than destructively. In addition, since there is perceived organizational support,
many of the members will believe that the organization values their contribution and cares for
their well-being, which helps in combating withdrawal behavior and increases the commitment
of the staff.
New Friends New Life has done a great job in effectively using affective commitment,
not just to keep the organization committed to their vision, but also improve the response
towards withdrawal behaviors in a constructive way.
Organizational Culture. As a nonprofit, New Friends New Life has strong personality
and cultural values. The values held by the group create a culture that warmly welcomes victims
and volunteers. This culture is founded upon the Christian faith, which emphasizes the value and
worth of each person. The employees rally around these morals and seek to instill them into the
lives of the victimized members they serve. This results in an impressive culture; with a happy,
enthusiastic, and respectful environment and the hospitality of a loving family.

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The culture is comprised of the individual personalities in the organization, which are no
less impressive than the culture as a whole. The personalities of the employees are very pleasant
in their extraversion, with positive affectivity that shines toward each other and the children. The
level of enthusiasm is effective in keeping the kids involved and produces a fun learning
environment. The men, who are only allowed to work with the children, carry this energy well
and with high conscientiousness. They instill order and teach the kids great work ethics in their
school work. The personalities accomplish their mission well in preparing these fatherless kids
for life with discipline and life skills. Openness is a product of the security built, and after many
visits New Friends New Life is able to effectively counsel the victims through the bondage of
their traumatic experiences into their a new way of living.
The length of time that is required to assist and graduate the members of this organization
also speaks into their culture. The persistence that New Friends New Life shows towards these
women revealed a clear long-term orientation. Women who are wrestling through addiction are
continually fed and invested into spiritually, emotionally, and financially; only then will this
organization begin the long term advocacy program. The mission statement is to restore and look
to the future. They value devoting themselves completely to helping every member all the way
through the program. This future focus has benefitted the organization greatly as graduated
women are able to bring about awareness and help other women.
New Friends New Life has a loyalty that emphasizes the collectivistic value that they
hold. They consider themselves a family, with many members. Their cultural values and
personalities are nothing but life-giving. Add up the sum of the parts and the composition of this
organization is a beautiful noise that takes trafficked women and broken lives and gives them
new friends and a new life.

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Organization Structure. New Friends New Life identifies itself as a function based
structure. Taryn Mays, the Volunteer and Development Manager at the non-profit organization,
explained that the once small organization is now helping over 700 women every year. Due to its
success and growth, the organizational structure had to adapt. The organization is topped by the
Advisory Board, Board of Directors, and Circle of Friends Board with Nancy Hunt as the Board
President and Dr. Gerald Turner as the Board Chair. The board is where all centralization occurs,
and decisions of budget, funds and future steps are presented bimonthly to its members.
Next in New Friends New Lifes chain of command is its Executive Director. Under her
are the Program Director, Development Director, and each program head (counseling, spiritual
support resource center, development and raising of funds, and childrens programs). Mays
explained that although all decisions need to be presented and approved by the board, the
company is low in formalization and each member is given the freedom to come with solutions
they can develop and present to the members of the Board.
During the second visit a more organic approach was observed. Each member had wide
work specialization, performing tasks associated with their title as well as those in other sections
of the organization. Although members were able to explain their title and knew where it fell in
the chain of command, it was evident that there is not a lot structure during the meetings and
everyday interactions. Each person got a turn to speak, but if something was brought up that
concerned other members a side conversation would be initiated. In theory, each person fell
within the organizational structure, but in practice, the lines were not as clear. One member
would be the head of a program but would fall under another persons program for a different
event.

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Stress. One of the main stressors that employees at New Friends New Life face is work
responsibility, since the nature of the work at New Friends New Life has a significant impact on
the lives of the women that they serve. The staffs efforts are crucial for the healing and
rehabilitation of these women. Another stressor they face lies in the complexity of their work.
The process of restoring sexually abused women who are leaving the sex trafficking industry is
complex and has many facets to it. There is no cookie cutter solution for these women. Instead,
New Friends New Life provides comprehensive programs to assist the women. Both of these
stressors are considered challenge work stressors meaning that they produce long-term benefits
despite increasing employee stress. Challenge stressors are moderately correlated with
organizational commitment.
In addition to the challenge stressors that they face, employees at New Friends New Life
may also experience role overload, which is a hindrance stressor. Hindrance stressors do not
have long-term benefits and instead hinder progress towards goals. Employees may face role
overload because of the breadth of the program and the fact that many positions within the
organization overlap. In addition to their more specialized roles, the staff members must also
help with other facets of the organization, including special events and fundraising. One of the
main reasons for this overlap is that as a nonprofit, New Friends New Life does not have very
many employees.
New Friends New Life has implemented a couple of programs to help their staff deal
with stress. One example is that every Wednesday, they have an acupuncturist come to the
organization to offer their services to the staff. They also have a program called compassionate
listeners, where staff members are able to talk to someone about the stress and challenges they
face at work. New Friends New Life has also implemented a compensation hour program where

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the staff members can take time off later if they are having to work more than 40 hours a week.
In addition, because of the nature of their work, most staff members are encouraged to see a
counselor.
Recommendations
Stress. Stress management has been addressed and implemented by New Friends New
Life through many different programs, but it is a topic that can always be improved upon. The
employees of the organization are faced with difficult decisions on a daily bases, and it is easy to
overlook their own needs when they are expected to be the rock that holds everything together.
With a heavy workload and not enough time to perform these tasks, workers can often find
themselves burned out.
According to a study performed by the National Association of Social Workers,
(Arrington 2008) exercise is the leading method to aid in stress relief. While New Friends New
Life already encompasses forms of meditation (acupuncture) and therapy (Compassionate
Listeners), adding an exercise program would be a sure way to ensure these women are getting
all the help and appreciation they need to perform their jobs and have high levels of job
satisfaction.
An example of a plan is a free gym membership to full time employees in the
organization. This would allow members to have sure access to a facility where they can unwind
and work on their wellbeing. This could be done at a facility near the office or even provided at
the Southern Methodist University campus, as many board members are part of the university. A
second proposition would be to come up with a schedule where employees would be given an
hour in the morning or the afternoon to get their workout done throughout the week. This would

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take away time constraints and in turn not add stress to the already stress filled days these
women face.
Incorporating a time and place for physical activity would strongly reduce the possibility
of physical, psychological, and behavior strains while increasing organizational commitment and
productivity.
Organization Structure. While New Friends New Life identifies itself as a functional
structure, the organization actually operates as an organic structure. This can be very confusing
when employees try to fit into their roles. It is important to identify which type of structure the
company operates as so that roles are clear and do not overlap. Companies do not need to be
strictly mechanistic or organic, but it is important to define which structure takes the lead.
A mechanistic organization thrives on structure and is viewed as efficient, rigid,
predictable, and standardized. New Friends New Life could benefit from some of these aspects,
especially when it comes to lines of authority and following the chain of command. During the
meeting, it was not clear to whom each employee reported. Having a direct chain of command
would clear many questions as well as make meeting more efficient, eliminating side
conversations.
New Friends New Lifes culture encourages its employees to develop knowledge and
expertise outside their specialization by working with people from other programs and
participating in the different events that inspires them to come up with their own solutions to
present to the board. In light of this, we recommend that the company embrace its need for an
organic organization, and focus on working together as a large team. Since restructuring the
organization has a negative effect on job performance and organizational commitment, we do not
believe that it is necessary to make too many changes to the structure. The company has been

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thriving and growing since its opening, and we believe that is largely due to new ideas and input
from each individual member.
Organizational Commitment. One area that could be improved in New Friends New
Life is that the organization relies too heavily on affective commitment for their staff members
and volunteers. The agency relies on the emotional attachment to the advocates and to the system
to keep members engaged. Creating affective commitment is always a benefit for the
organization; however, mainly focusing on affective commitment could lead to the erosion
model or the social influence model. These models suggest that members with fewer bonds
within the organization or those connected to members who have left will most likely leave the
organization. They will seek somewhere else to fit in or follow those that leave the agency. Since
New Friends New Life relies mostly on affective commitment, they are more likely to face this
problem.
To combat the problem of too much affective commitment, New Friends New Life
should transition into a more hybrid style of commitment for their staff members and volunteers.
This hybrid style will help retain the members within the organization when one form of
commitment starts to falter. The normative style should be directed towards the staff, as they are
determined long-term members. By installing normative commitment within the staff and to new
incoming staff, the organization will make them feel that they are in debt to the organization and
will feel regret if they decide to transfer to another organization. To create this obligation, New
Friends New Life should look to allocate more resources to its intern development and develop
their loyalty towards the organization. As with the staff, the volunteers also need to transition
into a hybrid style of commitment, but not the normative style that would be applied to the staff.

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New Friends New Life is constantly looking for new volunteers to help their organization
as they continue to grow. Relying on affective commitment will not keep volunteers involved in
the long-term and may result in problems due to understaffing. This situation creates more
problems, not just with increased turnover rates of volunteers, but also finding new people to fit
into these lost positions, finding exactly where they belong and training them to meet the
standards of the agency. The time spent on repeatedly finding new volunteers could be spent on
improved programs, training current volunteers or increased productivity. In addition, the
increased turnover rate within the organization creates a situation where the erosion model and
social influence model are more prominent. To decrease the chances of this occurring New
Friends New Life can transition into a more affective/continuous commitment style.
New Friends New Life should use continuous commitment with their volunteers as this
type of commitment factors in the total amount of investment within the agency. This would help
to embed them into the organization as they will have links to their organization and community.
In addition, embedded volunteers will address what they have to sacrifice if they decide to stop
volunteering at the organization. To increase continuous commitment of the volunteers, New
Friends New Life should employ a system that keeps the volunteers coming back. For example, a
point or reward system could be instituted where the organization gives incentives for how many
hours the volunteers put in or for how long the volunteers stay with the agency. The incentives
could be benefits that are enjoyed by the long-term staff, actual spoils, recognition or anything
that keeps them coming back. While this system will influence the individuals based on the
amount of time invested, productiveness could decrease when benefits are achieved. To make
sure the volunteers are productive, the organization should create strict guidelines so they do not
become a liability.

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By finding a new outlook to improve commitment within the organization, New Friends
New Life can create a more prominent organization that uses multiple means to keep their
members fully committed and engrossed with the organizations vision.
Conclusion
New Friends New Life exhibits many practices that are considered positive in terms of
organizational behavior. If the organization implements the preceding recommendations about
stress, structure, and commitment, it will enhance their ability to effectively help women and
children in the future. In addition, it will help create an environment that will allow them to
grown even more in the future.

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References
Arrington, P. (2008). Stress at work: How do social workers cope?. NASW Membership
Workforce Study. Washington, DC: National Association of Social Workers.
Mission Statement (2014) New Friends New Life Retrieved from
http://www.newfriendsnewlife.org/what-we-do/