diff --git a/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py b/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
index b68a36b9c6..ad1d43f86c 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
@@ -1457,7 +1457,12 @@ class AnsibleModule(object):
         # in reporting later, which strips out things like
         # passwords from the args list
         if isinstance(args, basestring):
-            to_clean_args = shlex.split(args.encode('utf-8'))
+            if isinstance(args, unicode):
+                b_args = args.encode('utf-8')
+            else:
+                b_args = args
+            to_clean_args = shlex.split(b_args)
+            del b_args
         else:
             to_clean_args = args
 
diff --git a/test/integration/unicode.yml b/test/integration/unicode.yml
index b04d760182..1044c25270 100644
--- a/test/integration/unicode.yml
+++ b/test/integration/unicode.yml
@@ -41,6 +41,15 @@
     - name: 'A task with unicode host vars'
       debug: var=unicode_host_var
 
+    - name: 'A task with unicode shell parameters'
+      shell: echo '¯ ° ± ² ³ ´ µ ¶ · ¸ ¹ º » ¼ ½ ¾ ¿ À Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Ì Í Î Ï Ð Ñ Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö ×'
+      register: output
+
+    - name: 'Assert that the unicode was echoed'
+      assert:
+        that:
+          - "'¯ ° ± ² ³ ´ µ ¶ · ¸ ¹ º » ¼ ½ ¾ ¿ À Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Ì Í Î Ï Ð Ñ Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö ×' in output.stdout_lines"
+
 - name: 'A play for hosts in group: ĪīĬĭ'
   hosts: 'ĪīĬĭ'
   gather_facts: true