God forbid that the workgroup becomes loyal to their manager because he/she identifies with them!
One of my favorite managers explained that Corporate demands required the changes he had to institute, even though he disagreed. That if we had his back he would have ours if it became necessary. And his word was golden, not BS. That's how a team is constructed.
One of the biggest reasons I (and many others) avoided management is having to sell the MEM line of BS. Of the few managers I actually respected, they all had the same honest approach to it you described in your post. And, yes, it does create a lot of respect and lends itself to the creation of a strong team environment.
I was fortunate to have a manager named Tom L. (they don't let you use last names) who eventually rose high into upper management. Don't know if he's still with FedEx. He was the smartest, most honest, no BS manager I had ever experienced at the company. He had a severely disabled child at home, and I think that gave him a level of compassion and understanding that few exhibit at Express.
He absolutely knew the operation inside and out and actually made decisions and changes that made sense, but were not straight out of the MEM "blanket policy" stupidity that denies the reality that every operation is different and faces varying challenges.
When he left, I bought a card, wrote down some heartfelt thoughts, and took him out for lunch. A rare man.
customers or an issue with another EE dumping freight etc.. answering about why this swing does a route at 110% and the regular ee is at 92%... or any stupid audit issue they are in charge of that they can get fired for missing something.. 
