I thought the point of hiring a master was so that they could run my shop for me. It got to the point where I had a few shops, all from various occupations, so I decided it was the time to hire some extra help, because I would forget who needed what the most. Mainly, I was tired from all of the notifications that something was out of stock, and my workers were idle.
I hear this far more often now that I have hired "help." My goldsmith has done absolutely nothing for me, because there are no more Fittings. The clown assigned every single worker to make something using fittings, because not one of them are being productive, despite every other item of use being in stock. I can't even buy the darned Fittings myself, because the master is "using" my carts. For what? Sitting his lazy butt in?
What can be done to cure this curse of stupidity? Are there mods available that can whip my masters into shape?

That's something I'd like to know too :). "Lending limit" is only way how I'm able to affect their work and it doesn't do much.

1. make sure the master is actually allowed to do business. You can see this in the "master craftsmen certificate" where you also can allow him to use the carts, make renovations and upgrades. Every time you inherit a building with a master already in business you will have to tick the first box!!! It is by default unticked, so he wont be doing anything.
2. In this Certificate you can also tell him what to produce and give him a certain budget (in my opinion: always give them the maximum)
3. The Masters are only useful, when they work in buildings that are fully upgraded (3rd stage). Here they gain you about 5-20k per round, not much, but certainly enough to not make any losses.

hope i could help :)