diff --git a/tempest/cli/__init__.py b/tempest/cli/__init__.py
index 0571f4f..f88e50e 100644
--- a/tempest/cli/__init__.py
+++ b/tempest/cli/__init__.py
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@
         cmd = ' '.join([os.path.join(CONF.cli.cli_dir, cmd),
                         flags, action, params])
         LOG.info("running: '%s'" % cmd)
-        cmd = shlex.split(cmd)
+        cmd = shlex.split(cmd.encode('utf-8'))
         result = ''
         result_err = ''
         stdout = subprocess.PIPE
diff --git a/tempest/common/commands.py b/tempest/common/commands.py
index 2ab008d..6583475 100644
--- a/tempest/common/commands.py
+++ b/tempest/common/commands.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
 
 
 def sudo_cmd_call(cmd):
-    args = shlex.split(cmd)
+    args = shlex.split(cmd.encode('utf-8'))
     subprocess_args = {'stdout': subprocess.PIPE,
                        'stderr': subprocess.STDOUT}
     proc = subprocess.Popen(['/usr/bin/sudo', '-n'] + args,
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@
           "-i %(pkey)s %(file1)s %(dest)s" % {'pkey': pkey,
                                               'file1': file_from,
                                               'dest': dest}
-    args = shlex.split(cmd)
+    args = shlex.split(cmd.encode('utf-8'))
     subprocess_args = {'stdout': subprocess.PIPE,
                        'stderr': subprocess.STDOUT}
     proc = subprocess.Popen(args, **subprocess_args)
diff --git a/tempest/tests/stress/test_stress.py b/tempest/tests/stress/test_stress.py
index 5a334c5..3dc2199 100644
--- a/tempest/tests/stress/test_stress.py
+++ b/tempest/tests/stress/test_stress.py
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
         cmd = ' '.join([cmd, param])
         LOG.info("running: '%s'" % cmd)
         cmd_str = cmd
-        cmd = shlex.split(cmd)
+        cmd = shlex.split(cmd.encode('utf-8'))
         result = ''
         result_err = ''
         try: